The Observer, September 12, 2008
Volume XLI, Issue 3
Have you heard about: Unite for Sight?
Are you a social entrepreneur? When you see a problem in society, do you want to address it? If both of your answers are yes, Kimaya Vaidya provides you a remarkable opportunity to roll up your sleeves to change the world.
With help of Dr. Suber S. Huang, who advises several student clubs, Kimaya Vaidya, a junior pre-medical student, and several other students (Anna Dunn, Nimit Kapoor, Zarina Sharalaya, and Bill Fox, to name a few) founded a new student group on campus called Unite for Sight (UFS). It is a chapter of a national non-profit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness.
"I first became interested in working with the blind on a trip to India in the summer of 2007. My grandmother, who does social work, took me with her on one of her visits to a government funded blind boys' school in India…I noticed many little things that I didn't like: no handrail along the stairs, little cracks in the sidewalk that cause boys to fall and get hurt, and the way they eat – they eat on the floor," said Kimaya, chair of UFS.
"However, the boys were still eager to show me how they did math with a special slate and played cricket with a rattling ball…The students' potential and enthusiasm for life could be more thoroughly realized if they were given the gift of sight."
Through a web search, Kimaya found the Unite for Sight program. After starting with the International Eye Care Outreach Program, she decided to start her own chapter. To register a complete UFS program, the volunteer has to meet several prerequisites: collecting 500 pairs of old eyeglasses for distribution to patients with refractive errors and who will be screened for cataracts, $1400 for surgical instruments, medicines, education materials, and finally, the completion of several cultural competency and required readings. So far, she has collected 100 pairs of glasses from a branch of Merck & Co. Inc. in Rahway, N.J. where she interned this summer, as well as $1000 from family, friends, and many unknown but warm-hearted people.
Seen from the stamps and addresses, some of the checks are from poor or old people, who could not leave their houses and buy new stamps. "It's surprising that people from a poor town [give] money to a cause for people they don't know," said Kimaya. "These are very precious gifts."
Unite for Sight's CWRU chapter welcomes students from various backgrounds. "We need a lot of help with publicity, people who want to go talking and flattering, people who are familiar with website designing, people who are creative and have good communication skills, and are willing to entertain others, said Kimaya, "We cultivate leadership, talent, and ideas among our eye clinic partners and among our volunteers… A $10 membership fee, an eye course where you learn about diseases, which is interesting, asigned code of ethics, a code of conduct, and then you're in."
In the international volunteering UFS program, volunteers must shadow an optometrist or ophthalmologist to learn about the various eye diseases they may observe during the service. They will also be trained to provide community-based vision screenings and eye health education programs. The chapter will offer vision screenings, educate children and adults about eye health and blindness prevention, and provide information and assistance to the medically underserved so that they can register for nationally available free health coverage and receive complete eye exams by a doctor. In addition to community-based screening and education events, the chapter will also organize eyeglass drives and fundraise to provide sight-restoring eye care in developing countries. One hundred percent of the funds raised provide sight-restoring surgeries for patients living in extreme poverty.
The chapter is going to have its first General Board Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Thwing Spartan Room, and plans to hold two activities per month with an extensive list of possible sites such as nursing homes in Cleveland; the volunteers can begin to set up screenings immediately.
"Seeing the joy on patients' faces immediately when their sight is restored after years of blindness reaffirmed my desire to be involved," said Kimaya."You could change their lives…and you would be doing a lot."
For more information, visit http://www.uniteforsight.org. Interested students should contact Kimaya Vaidya (chair of Unite for Sight) at kxv28@case.edu or Zarina Sharalaya (vice president of Unite for Sight) at zms21@case.edu.
