Working in remote and rural areas, providing quality eye care across its home state, and so much more, VOSH-Virginia is selected by VOSH/International as the September 2018 VOSH Chapter of the Month. Read on for their dynamic approaches:
VOSH-Virginia partnered with Remote Area Medical (RAM) Virginia to increase access to quality vision services. Over 6,000 individuals in rural and remote areas in Virginia gained access to volunteer optometric services. Services included eye exams, dilation, follow-up services for cataracts and glaucoma, and prescription eye glasses.
As a result, over $5,000,000.00 in free services were provided to individuals across Virginia. (NB: this selection was made prior to the passing of RAM’s founder and magnificent leader Stan Brock memorialized at https://www.ramusa.org/remembering-stan-brock/ )
VOSH-Virginia works throughout the year to grow and facilitate high quality eye professional volunteers. Through Remote Area Medical of Virginia, volunteers were provided with equipment, medications, frames and lenses to operate larger scale 2-3 day events. VOSH-Virginia volunteers were able to perform 2,239 eye exams and provide 3,232 pairs of prescription glasses. Each volunteer is provided with an enriching experience. Volunteers have a personal connection with the patients and culture of specific clinic locations and return each year to help that community.
VOSH-Virginia is also dedicated to the overall health of the patients. As such, the optometrists are able to connect patients with high quality medical services to treat contributing diseases such as diabetes. Over 10% of patients treated at these clinics are found to be new onset diabetics who were unaware of their conditions. Screening for such disease help to prevent conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy.
