Youth Grants
Jennifer Staple launched Unite for Sight (UFS) in 2000 while a sophomore at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Today, UFS is a global nonprofit working to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness.
“Eighty percent of all blindness is curable or preventable, which means that 36 million people throughout the world are living with needless blindness,” Jennifer says. “We eliminate the barriers to eye care for patients living in poverty.”
To date, UFS has provided eye care services to more than 600,000 people worldwide, with more than 19,500 individuals benefiting from sight-restoring surgeries. Central to the organization’s approach is training community eye health workers who can reach the poorest and most vulnerable patients.
In 2008, through a partnership between the International Youth Foundation and Starbucks, UFS received a $15,000 youth grant to train and employ 24 new community health care workers to screen for eye disease in Ghana. Once trained, these workers are expected to reach more than 86,000 patients annually.
International Youth Foundation (IYF) prepares young people to be healthy, productive and engaged citizens. In 2008, IYF and the Starbucks Foundation helped support 25 young social entrepreneurs just like Jennifer around the world.
How are things going so far?
Learn more in Jennifer’s blog.
February 3, 2009
The 24 community eye health workers received training in October by Ghanaian ophthalmologist Dr. James Clarke at Crystal Eye Clinic. The community eye health workers were trained to coordinate vision screenings in local communities and identify basic eye diseases such as red eye, cataract, pterygium and foreign body. Each received instructions in how to carry out simple first aid for an eye injury and the importance of notifying an eye clinic immediately. Each also learned how to record their activities and follow the tenets of professionalism and ethical patient care.
Leticia, one of the community eye health workers, explains the importance of the training course:
“Following the training, I can now identify common eye problems. I can now screen the patients and organize them for further screening. The training helped me to better organize and advise patients about what a particular patient is supposed to do after a cataract or pterygium surgery. Other benefits I acquired include advising patients on how to take good care of their eyes, what and what not to put in their eyes, and diets that aid good sight. I wish to express my sincere gratitude for this kind gesture of having a little knowledge about the eye.
Following their training in October 2008, the community eye health workers served in their communities during November, December and January. Already, the impact of their work is identifiable.
Dr. Clarke, who also provides surgeries for 2,000 patients annually through Unite For Sight’s program, is impressed that patients now come for surgery with a better understanding of what is being done for them. He says the patients have much less fear of surgery.
Most importantly, with the aid of the community eye health workers, patients are adhering to their postoperative medication regime, resulting in a better recovery.
