Boy, have we been busy!

First of all, we all arrived safely in Phayao, Thailand. Apologies for the delay, as we know family members have been concerned, BUT... So far, after only two days of clinic, we have given the gift of sight to 4180 people!

And now some truly remarkable stories...

On the first day of clinic, a 75-year-old man went through the clinic process (eye dilation, autorefraction, doctor examination, health check) and waited patiently for his glasses to be dispensed. He had a very strong prescription. His name was called, Erin Powell dispensed the glasses, but they weren't quite right - the man told the interpreter that he couldn't see well through them. Our tech leader, Jo Dunn took a look at the glasses and the prescription, and went to find a better match. She was able to hand-pick (among the 20,000+ glasses in our inventory) an almost perfect prescription match. After dispensing the glasses, the man smiled, put his hands in prayer position and thanked us in his native language.

Our wonderful team of doctors saw hundreds of patients with cataracts and pterygiums. The exposure to the elements in Thailand increases the prevalence of both of these conditions. The doctors were able to refer the patients to an upcoming surgical clinic that will take place soon after our OneSight clinic, where the gift of sight will also be given.

We've been able to celebrate all throughout our clinic days when we find PERFECT prescription matches! Our fearless leader, Leona Dockery, instituted the "ringing of the bell" ceremony for the Inventory Management System (IMS) team. After the doctors write the prescriptions, the IMS team is tasked with entering the data into the database, where the closest match is found. When a perfect match is found, a bell is rang loud and proud to announce the success! Cheers can be heard from our team, the volunteers and even some of the patients!

Stay tuned for more stories from the Phayao, Thailand clinic!