Don´t Stop Believing

We had another great experience today. At clinic we saw more than 3200 patients and it seemed like only 2000. We had so many great experiences that have made the team come together even more than we could have thought. There is not a single person on the team that I am not proud to call my friend and I believe that we all feel the same way.

Today I spent the day in IMS, a station I have been in before. I think many of us returned to places we had been and are now comfortable. We all are getting the hang of it and in many ways are sad to see the end is near. We all pressed hard to day and kept the faith after our wishes from home. They powered us through the exhaustion, both mental and physical and made it possible to deliver the highest single day of the clinic. We have only a half day left and it has been getting harder and harder to find great matches for the patient´s Rx, but we all wish we could help every single person, just like we do back home.

I have a few stories today. One is from my roommate and friend Dr Dave Oebkr. Today he brought a pair of glasses from his home store that was a pretty significant Rx (plus tens). He asked the folks in IMS if they found a match to get him and he would like to be the one to dispense that glasses. A little time passed by and he was called to head up to the dispensing area and fit the glasses for the patient. As the name was called a few people wispered, Oh my gosh, he has no arms! The patient had been in an electrical accident and had lost both of his arms. The man was very excited to get glasses and came boucing up. As Dave sat him down and went to fit the glasses, he realized the man also had no right ear. It had been lost to the accident as well. Dave partnered with several team members (Eric Anderson and a few others) and was able to find a glasses strap to hold the on the man´s head. He was so greatful and the Rx matched almost perfectly. Dave was almost overwhelmed! The man had so much joy in his heart after so much difficulty, he was truly an inspiration.

A second story actually comes from me. The other day, I was working on making glasses with Shawn Deckert, my fellow Target Team Member (he is amazing, by the way) and Eric Anderson (I feel a Target moment coming on) came to me and asked if I could help with a patient. He had Auto-Refracted a woman and her mother. The woman was a MINUS 25! Imagine the world through those eyes. Her mother was a minus 6 and both had no glasses at all. I can´t imagine life in that manner. Well, we worked hard to find a good match and found an almost perfect one for the mother. She was extremely happy and gave me a big hug. For the daughter, 35 years old mind you, we were only able to find a minus 10. Hoping for the best and explaining this was not a perfect match, I put the glasses on her face. I knew immediately it was not what we were hoping for. She shook her head and said ¨No.¨ Our translator told us that she could only make out shapes and light and that it was just very cloudy. After a long talk, we realized this was probably the best we could do. With a very heavy heart, I walked her up the stairs, talking the whole way through the translator. The women told me they were both kindergarten teachers (My sister Meredith taught kindergarten) and that they loved their work and the kids. I knew that it must be next to impossible to work the kids and not be able to see them. Once I walked them out, Eric approached me. He saw how much I had been moved (believe me, it showed) and asked me if I would be willing to sponsor the woman. Very excitedly, I said yes and asked what I needed to do, thinking I would pay $400 or so and get her glasses made. Instead Eric told me Target would donate the money and I would just need to coordinate the process. Shawn Deckert, Kim Wentzel, Meera Dua, Sherrie Henderson and others, I probably don´t even know are working to make this happen and we received an email today, saying the glasses should be ready and on my desk when I get back on the 3rd! It just shows how far the spirit of giving can reach and why I love Luxottica and Target Optical. Thank you to everyone involved and thank you to Eric for asking me to help.

Wow, that was a long and emotional post. With that I will wrap things up other than to say that we all love the folks back home and can´t wait to share the joy we have experience here in Calama. Today one of the volunteers said, ¨Nothing is impossible. We are Chilean and we will make it so. Just believe you can.¨ That is the spirit of the Gift of Sight, the people we are helping and the amazing Team we are a part of.

Thanks for reading.