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IN A COUNTRY (The Philippines) WITH 7,107 ISLANDS, HOW DO YOU HELP THE POOR PEOPLE SEE BETTER? YOU BRING THE MOBILE EYE CLINIC TO THEM. Results of the 1st Annual Tennis Tournament March 19, 2011 Oak leaf Plantation , Orange Park, FL Results April 7, 2012 6th Annual Tournament at Fleming Island Golf Plantation Results Quirino Jan 2012 Mission Surgeries Jan 2012 Vision Mission Upcoming Missions in June 2012 Foundation Founder/President Dr. James Weyrich receives the "Ambassador for Peace Award" 01/24/2011 and the Lions International "Melvin Jones Fellowship" Award on 05/23/2011
With ferry boats (left) or crossing a 4,000 foot summit of the Dalton Pass (right) the mobile vision clinic can reach most people on the 980 inhabited islands
Large throngs meet us at every venue, they are patient for their eye examination for their graded eyeglasses, treatment of their eye diseases or qualify for the free eye surgeries
Cataract Surgery restores her vision and now she will be able to see again -- young man with cataract before surgery -- we welcome the opportunity to have cataract surgery using local Filipino Doctors to be able to give back to the poor in their communities.
Analyn from Dayapan, Lermery, Batangas came to our free clinic on June 1, 2011 (see latest mission news) At age two her left eye was injured and she has had to live with corneal scar from then until this December 2011. Dr Weyrich, along with mission sponsors, Bayani Diokno, Cris Cueto arranged the surgery and for the ocular prosthesis (artificial eye) It was a long ordeal between getting clearances for her surgery to have her eye removed took over a dozen trips to Manila (6 hours each way) Fe Smith, a volunteer angel from Lemery and sister of sponsor Cris Cueto, took her again and again until Analyn received her artificial eye that was made and donated by Dr. Antonio "Tony" Joson of Manila. Praise GOD!!!! All is well that ends well. I am sure that Analyn is the happiest 15 year old in the Philippines. She received her dream of a lifetime for Christmas. The last 4 medical vision missions have been to the Luzon (the most populous) Either we take a 25 hour ferryboat to get there or we hop from island to island by small ferryboats to get to our destinations. When we island hop it is a very long grueling trip, but when our sailing gets canceled, it gives us no choice. To do this it takes 3 ferryboat rides each way to to get to the Luzon. First the mobile clinic drives from the foundation headquarters in Bago City for 2 hours, then sails from Bacolod port on Negros Occidental Island, 2 hour ferry boat ride to Panay Island, 7 hour bus ride across Panay Island to Northern Panay Island, another ferry to Southern Mindoro Island (7 hour crossing) then 7 hour bus ride to Northern Mindoro, another ferry to Batangas (2 hours) in the Luzon, then 4 hour bus ride to Manila. Then the mobile clinic with the volunteers will travel to the venue. With stopping for meals it takes over 30 hours to make the trip one way. The ferryboat expenses are always the largest single expense during the medical mission, but the mobile clinic is the biggest blessing to the people so it is worth the expenses to get their free eye care to the indigents who live in the 990 inhabited islands. Eyecare Wecare Foundation, Inc.; based in the United States; registered 501 (c) (3) not for profit; Christian centered; international organization; that does medical vision missions and provides eye examinations ; eye and general medications; eyeglasses and provides for eye surgeries all at no cost to the prescreened indigents. The foundation has a branch office in the Philippines that is registered with the Philippine government under SEC (Security Exchange Commission) It is currently conducting all of the vision clinics there. The foundations target population is the rural poor who do not have access to, nor financial resources for, vision services. The foundation has no paid administrators or staff, everyone volunteers. The foundation just finished its January 2012 Medical Vision Mission and Examined 1,625 people and provided eyeglasses to 1,608 disadvantaged rural poor Filipino's. Bausch & Lomb once again donated Inter Ocular lenses, medications and surgical supplies for 50 cataract surgeries for this mission. The total eyeglasses prescribed and provided to the indigents, added to previous medical eye missions by the foundation brings a total of 18,661 people receiving free eyeglasses since 2005. We truly are "Delivering Gods Ultimate Vision Plan to the Poor." people waiting for their prescription eyeglasses blood pressures are taken for all patients
Derek Buchanan, a dispensing optician from Portland, Oregon who has relocated in the Philippines, has blessed the foundation with his skills participating in the last 3 missions. He has really made a difference in refining the eyeglasses dispensing. Here a season veteran, Angelo Tagobader who has participated in all 17 visions missions operating the auto refractor. He is so pleased to be able to use the much newer and more accurate instrument donated by Transitions Healthy Sight for Life Fund just a few months ago. It was used for the very first time during this mission and was one of the reason that so many more people per day were be able to be examined. THE MISSION When President / Founder Dr. James H. Weyrich began the foundation with his focus on helping the poor people in that Philippines. He envisioned to start a clinic and have the people come to the clinic. Then he realized that the Philippines is one of the most challenging countries of the world to provide quality health care. The reason being it is separated by so many islands (7,107 Islands) of which 990 are inhabited. Only the larger islands have access to health care and vision care. The poor people that live outside of the few larger islands can only get treatment by taking public transportation to the ferry boat terminal, take a ferry boat to the port of an island that has an eye doctor. From there, they have to take public transportation from the ferry to the doctors office, pay for the exam and then pay for the glasses. Wait until the glasses are fabricated and then proceed home. Most cannot afford even the first public transportation ride let alone paying for vision services. That is the beauty of having a self contained "Eye Clinic on Wheels" We can ferry the 40 foot converted bus to most of the islands and provide these services to the indigents on the remote islands. This is by far the largest expense for most missions, costing around $3,500 per mission just on ferry boat fees for the mobile clinic, the 25 volunteer passengers as well as the port and dock fees. The foundation is now soliciting funds to build and equip another "Eye Clinic on Wheels" that will stay in the Luzon to offset the large expense to transport it on a ferry boat. We envision even the possibility of having a third mobile clinic to serve the large Southern Islands called the Mindanao.
GIVING THANKS Before each clinic day began in Quirino, Sponsor Lion Tess Paje let a praise and worship service and for years Dr. Weyrich has the volunteers gather in a circle and pray for God's blessing on the mission before clinic is started each day also IMPACT STATEMENT The WHO (World Health Organization) lists uncorrected refractive error and the second leading cause of blindness in the world with only cataracts topping the list. This where EyeCare WeCare foundation is helping in a large way. The mobile clinic carries with it on every vision mission over 50,000 pairs of graded recycled eyeglasses. Most of the indigents can have a pair of eyeglasses that is very close to what they need, in a matter of minutes following the examination. The Foundation wants to reach out to the poor people of the world and to restore their vision. The foundation appeals to individuals, civic organizations, religious organizations, fraternal organizations, corporate organizations, and other philanthropic foundations to help it with its projects.
Dr. Yin-Yin Aung performs slit lamp evaluation R.N. Janrey Gallendo assists. Right Dr. Mark Bernardo, using an indirect ophthalmoscope to observe the back of the eye, discovers diabetic retinopathy on this lady.
The digital Auto Air Puff Tonometer, donated by Dr. Michael Woods, has really brought our testing for eye pressures ( a test for glaucoma, to a much higher level.
INSIDE THE BUS THERE IS A COMPLETE EYE EXAM LANE, AN AUTO REFRACTOR; A BIOMICROSCOPE; AN HAND HELD AUTO REFRACTOR; AN HAND HELD AUTO TONOMETER, AND BOTH A DIRECT AND INDIRECT OPHTHALMOSCOPE . All the Registration and pre testing, plus the eyeglasses are dispensed outside the bus. THE FOUNDATION NEEDS YOUR HELP The foundation has fallen victim to the economic slowdown. Most all other non profit foundation are experiencing similar problem. Most of the foundation's funding has been either eliminated or greatly reduced. EyeCare WeCare Foundation is very frugal with the funding that it receives. Last year 2011 the foundation conducted two medical vision mission and it was able to provide graded eyeglasses to over 3,800 Filipino indigents. The foundation was able to do all of what it did last year with less than $35,000 monetary contributions. It is able to do this because it is a 100% voluntary foundation and is extremely frugal with the funds received. If you feel moved by what you have witnessed on this website, please email the volunteer CEO of EyeCare WeCare Foundation, Dr. Jim Weyrich at jim.weyrich@eyecarewecare.org May GOD bless you.
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"Smiles on their faces and hopes in
their hearts" are always the final result of EyeCare WeCare Foundation's vision
missions
