TESTIMONIALS

*An optometry education is not complete until you have been on a VOSH mission.
Franklin Harms, OD, Founder of VOSH-International, 1971

Scool of Optometry Waterloo May 26-June 12, 2010 Bamenda, Cameroon (Southeast)

VOSH-Kansas San Carlos, Panama, Feb 20 - Mar 10, 2010 Franz Garcia de Paredes, Panama Rotario Oeste Club

David Murakami UC Berkeley School of Optometry Jan 2009

Dec 7, 2009. Attached is the RAM recap page of stats for the Union county TN clinic in Maynardville.  If you have any questions about the numbers, please feel free to email me! We greatly appreciate the great assistance and partnership of VOSH! 
Best Wishes! Jean Brady Jolly, Volunteer Coordinator. Remote Area Medical

*VOSH-Minnesota, "May 2009 Portoviejo, Ecuador" Jan Cartwright

*I always expected Ethiopia was going to be a country inhabited by a significant amount of "have-nots." That is one of the staple definitions when one tries to define a third world country. Unfortunately, even with that being said, I could never have been prepared to deal with what I encountered. I expected to see the "have-nots" and I saw the "have-nothings." I expected to help the visually impaired and ended up just hoping I comforted the blind. I went on the trip expecting a little break from my monotonous life and returned with exceeding joy for every mundane aspect now knowing first hand what my life could be like.
Joe Pruitt, student, Illinois College of Optometry

*This trip to Ghana was such an awesome and life changing experience for me. Learning about their culture and making friends in Ghana really changed my perspective on a lot of things in life. It's kind of funny because it was harder for me to adjust back to the American culture than it was for me to adjust to the Ghanian culture. I am definietly looking into becoming an active member of VOSH after I graduate from school. Iwould like to go on more of these humanitarian trips throughout my life. It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to use your knowledge and skill and help change other people's lives.
Carlys Higuchi, student, Pacific University School of Optometry

*The web sight has proven to be a great tool for these trips. Over the past few years I have been contacted by several people from all over the states for my trip. We have enjoyed having people outside of Michigan on our trips.
Jill Cole, Secretary VOSH-Michigan

*Just acquiring the supplies was not nearly enough. Everything then had to be shipped to Nicaragua. This is always a very expensive and labor-intensive process. We struck a deal with an organization that had a shipping container going to Nicaragua. In exchange for 40 wheelchairs and a to-be-determined sum of money, they would place our gear into their container. Once this deal was made, we had to get everything to New Canaan CT, from where the boat would depart. Larry Ulm trucked the eyeglass library from his home in southwestern Pennsylvania, which took up an entire day. Carl Sakovits and Joe & Maryann England rented a truck to drive the wheelchairs and other supplies from Al Amerigian's storage facility to New Canaan. Once there, everything had to be loaded onto the container. This entire process is extremely difficult and arduous, and until now unnoticed by many of us.
Jonathan Wasserstein, OD, VOSH-Northeast

*My name is Yván Sánchez, I am physician of Rotary Club of Arequipa, District 4300 of Rotary International. We are very grateful for your help, for help of VOSH for Peru since five years ago and we are very happy for your new visit to Arequipa next july (July 3th - 7th). Thank you very much for your help for our people in Arequipa. We received a letter of Health´s Ministry of Peru about the Mission of VOSH for next July in Arequipa and we are talking with our rotarian friends of Quebec - Canada because Rotary Club of Arequipa and Rotary of Quebec want to say ¡Present! in the Mission of VOSH. We are waiting for all team of VOSH and we say you WELCOME to Arequipa.
Yours in friendship, Yván Sánchez, Rotary Club of Arequipa

*RHODE ISLAND RESOLUTION Rep. Peter G. Palumbo (D-Dist. 16, Cranston) today honored his fellow Rhode Island volunteers of the Northeast Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (NEVOSH) for their hard work and dedication to helping those in need. Representative Palumbo recognized the Rhode Island volunteers of NEVOSH in a House resolution congratulating them on their recent mission to Nicaragua. For the past five years, Representative Palumbo has joined these volunteers on the annual mission, where they work with impoverished residents of the Central American nation, providing poor families with much-needed health care. This year, the work was done in a small village near the central-western coast of the country. NEVOSH, an organization of optometrists and volunteers dedicated to bringing vision and health care to needy people around the world, has sponsored clinics in Central American every January since 1988. The medical care they deliver includes dental exams, eye exams, glasses, eye surgery and pharmaceutical drugs. This year, nearly 80 NEVOSH volunteers worked grueling 10-hour days so they could reach as many people as possible during their mission in the country. The volunteers were able to treat 4,000 people overall, including 340 who received dental care. In addition to medical attention, NEVOSH delivered 280 wheelchairs this year, purchased with the help of a fund-raiser organized by Representative Palumbo. They also distributed teddy bears to many of the children, a gift from retired Verizon workers in Rhode Island. I would like to congratulate and honor the volunteers of NEVOSH for their tireless dedication to helping those so desperately in need, said Representative Palumbo. For many years, these compassionate and selfless NEVOSH volunteers have donated their time, money and expertise to these missions, and I am so grateful to be a part of the amazing work that they do.
Rep. Palumbo honors fellow NEVOSH volunteers for their work in annual aid mission to Nicaragua 4/12/06

*My favorite memory...Upon closing our first day in the optometry clinic, (Nicaragua) a young boy named Jerson came in with a large, painful corneal abrasion. Ken and I adopted him as a shared patient. By sleeping in Ben's contact lens (it acted like a band-aid) for 2 days with an antibiotic drop to prevent infection, he was cured. The last day he brought in a bag of oranges as a gift to thank us!
Jane Bucci,VOSH-Northeast

*I went on the VOSH trip as a 2nd year optometry student and had an awesome time!! We (the Berkeley crew) arrived in San Juan del Sur and provided eye care alongside the optometrists. Everything was so organized, the optometrists and staff were excellent, and I learned sooo much. I saw so much ocular pathology and learned a ton about patient management, not to mention brushed up on my Spanish. I also grew closer to my classmmates and made some lifelong connections with locals (some of which I still talk to via email!). I have to say that initially I wasn't sure what to expect, but I am so glad that I decided to join the VOSH-Connecticut trip. When we came back to school, we excitedly told everyone that would listen about our trip. Every time I look back on that trip, I do so with a smile and if I had to do anything over again, I wouldn't change a thing.
Jasmine Vu Wong, student, University of California Berkeley School of Optometry

*Not that they would admit it, but Jerry and Joni Arvidson aren't your typical 70-somethings. For example, how many retired couples do you know who vacation in Bosnia? For 13 years, this South St. Paul, Minnesota, couple has used their vacation fund to travel to underprivileged regions around the globe delivering something most of us take for granted: clear vision. It all started when Jerry, who is active in the South St. Paul Lions Club, inquired as to where the used eyeglasses his club had collected over the years actually went. We never should have asked, Jerry says with a laugh. But we're very glad we did, because that's when we got involved in Volunteer Optometric Services for Humanity (VOSH-Minnesota). We just fell in love with it. It's opened a whole new avenue for us and actually changed our lives. That life-altering question has sent the Arvidsons, both Thrivent Financial for Lutherans members, to Central and South America, Romania, India, the Ukraine and, most recently, to Senegal, Africa. When the group usually around 20 people, including some ophthalmologists and optometrists arrive in a village, boxes of glasses in tow, the routine is pretty much the same.
Thrivent Magazine, summer 2006

*Whew! I just finished reading the very informative and impressive VOSH Newsletter for Spring 2006. I always find the news from VOSH to be of great interest. I am always very excited too, by the Lions involvement. We appreciate the credit that VOSH International gives to the Lions. I am one of the people who is a regular visitor of the VOSH-International web site. It is a wonderful source of information.
Deborah O'Malley, Coordinator, Program Development Department, Lions Clubs International

* The Armenian mission was my first VOSH trip, and I was very interested to go as I had been to Armenia and knew how very poor most of the people are and that they could not afford medical treatment. VOSH could serve a great need there. I greatly enjoyed getting to be part of the team and seeing how VOSH operates. Also, I was appreciative that all of the team was so congenial and accepting of an antiquated 78 year old. Making new friends was a bonus of the trip.
Wanda Hamilton, dispensary assistant VOSH-NECO

*I've been thinking about the quiet but powerful speech one of our interpreters gave 2 nights ago to all the Project Hope folks and others of us in attendance. In her talk she explained thus: "You have been treating the poorest people of Aceh for these past weeks, and you have reached out to them with respect, and humility, and have honored them. You have been kind to them, and have laughed with them, and always have treated them with the utmost tenderness and love. All of Indonesia knows this. Do you understand now why 70% of the Indonesian people think well of America?"
Dr. Bill McDaniel, VOSH Tsunami relief

 *Regarding a mission to Kenya Dec 06. Right now I have 6 OD's, one other and myself from Iowa, 2 from Calif, one from Canada, and 2 from Seattle area. One of those OD's in Seattle is native Kenyan! Another native Kenyan from the UK may help us for some of the clinic days. And I have two ICO 3rd year students going, other volunteers, for a total of about 25! I am overwhelmed, bit jubilant, as this means we will bring some very appreciated eyecare to over 2000 people, most of whom have never received any previous eycare. So many folks willing to give away a big chunk of their holday vacation time is inspiring. I am grateful that VOSH exists to support these kind of missions.
Ralph De Haan, OD, VOSH-Iowa

*As I stepped onto the plane to Guatemala City, my 13 year old mind ran wild with thoughts and fears of my upcoming adventure

Essay
Amanda Sidman

*Dear VOSH, I just wanted to let you know that you have not only made an impact on the thousands of people you help with your time and aid. But also the awarenes that you give to those on the side being spectators. In 1996 you went to Merida Yucatan, Mexico to provide your services at the Red Cross and I was there as a translator. It was an amazing experience for me and since then have always wanted to let you know that you have inspired many of us in many ways. I would love to find out if in any way i can help with my time to help the cause grow. Thanks for the opportunity you gave us to help you help others.
Jennifer Davidson. Union City, NJ