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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 January 2013 Olongapo Mission Lions involvement in the Mission Recent Newspaper article "From Across the Seas to help others See" The Daily World April 14, 2013, 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) and the volunteers getting off a big ferry boat -- 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 Lermery, Batangas , from a very indigent family of 10 (Mother above) other children, came to our free clinic on June 1, 2011 (see latest mission news) At age two her left eye was injured which resulted in a bad corneal scar (left). She was so self conscious about her eye she dropped out of school 3 years ago. Dr Weyrich, along with mission sponsors, Bayani Diokno, Cris Cueto arranged the surgery and for her artificial eye. Fe Smith, a volunteer angel from Lemery and sister of sponsor Cris Cueto, took her again and again (8 hr round trip to Manila) until Analyn had her left eye removed and received her artificial eye that was made and donated by Dr. Antonio "Tony" Joson of Manila.
June 11, 2012 Dr Weyrich meet with Analyn for the first time since she had the surgery and artificial left eye. Fe Smith, who drove her to Manila many times for the surgery and her new eye ( lady with the glasses) also pictured are Ed and Susan Damilao, sponsors of the Pampanga (May 2010) and latest mission in Laguna (May 2012) Ananlyn is now back in school and is a first year high school student. Her life has truly changed since she came to our free clinic in Batangas one year ago. We never improved her eyesight, but we helped change her life. She now has a much greater self esteem and has given great joy for her new beginning in life. Praise God for all that made this possible.
The last 6 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. Here are the volunteers in their bunk beds for the long boat ride and the other picture is of them loading the bus along with the cargo containers. 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 16th Medical Vision Mission January 12, 2013 in Olongapo, next to Subic Bay and 1,955 disadvantaged rural poor Filipino's. There were 60 cataract surgeries preformed during and 40 following the mission for a total of 100 cataract surgeries. Bausch & Lomb once again donated Inter Ocular lenses, medications and surgical supplies for 100 cataract surgeries for this mission and SEE International provided the rest of the eye surgery supplies. . The total eyeglasses prescribed and provided to the indigents, added to previous medical eye missions by the foundation brings a total of 23,254 people receiving free eyeglasses since 2005. The foundation's is living up to it's motto which is "Delivering Gods Ultimate Vision Plan to the Poor." people waiting for their prescription eyeglasses blood pressures are taken for all patients
This mission we had to go without Derek Buchanan, a dispensing optician from Portland, Oregon who has relocated in the Philippines, has blessed the foundation with his skills participating in the previous 4 missions. He has really made a difference in refining the eyeglasses dispensing. Here is our new autorefractor that was donated by Transitions Healthy Sight for Life Fund last year. It is really much quicker and more accurate that our old one. 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 around 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 begins the volunteers form a circle and pray for God's blessing the mission for the upcoming day. 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 and Dr. Jim performs slit lamp evaluation
The digital Auto Air Puff Tonometer, is an important test to measure the Inter ocular pressure of the eye to rule out glaucoma we have a stationary and a hand held auto tonometer.
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. This year 2012 the foundation conducted two medical vision mission and it was able to provide graded eyeglasses to a record of 4,234 Filipino indigents. The foundation was able to do all of what it did last year with less than $23,000 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 want a volunteer and 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
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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
