Why Unite for Sight?

You know you are in a foreign country when you can’t sleep because of three things:

1.Jet Lag
2.Roosters Crowing at 5 a.m.
3.Excitement and anxiety that you are in another country.

My first night in Accra, Ghana was definitely a combination of those three things. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep. To my luck, the other volunteers woke up early as well and we started getting ready for our long day ahead.

Unlike the other Unite for Sight Volunteers, I was not going to work in Ghana’s capital city. I had to travel 12 hours in a bus to get to the Northern Region of Ghana to the fourth most populated and poor city: Tamale.

First of all, let me back up a little bit because many of you maybe wondering what Unite for Sight is and what I am doing in Ghana. Well let me explain…

For the longest time I’ve always had a dire passion for public health, communication and medicine and then I found the perfect organization for my interests: Unite for Sight. Unite for Sight, is a global eye organization that helps remove barriers to eye care locally and in third world countries abroad. It’s about helping others see eye to eye. This can be taking figuratively and literally. To me, eliminating barriers with eye care is about understanding cultural differences, dealing with fear, ignorance, and inadequate resources and learning how to communicate effectively. That’s why I wanted to come to Ghana Unite for Sight Medical Staff and volunteers as it will “open up my eyes” to many different perspectives of medicine, help fuel my passion for journalism/communication by doing a research project and I will also be getting hands on medical experience with poverty stricken situations.

I first encountered Unite for Sight when last year’s President of the Saint Louis Chapter spoke. There was one thing that caught my eye: the UFS logo. It’s two hands holding in the shape of an eye. It’s something that just made me reflect; the eyes and hands are very essential body parts since they give us our major senses: sight and touch. These two senses are what the organization is based on. Unite for Sight is a non-profit organization that provides free international eye care services abroad with partner local eye clinics including examinations by local eye doctors, diagnosis and care for all treatable conditions, education, and prevention. The organization interested me so much that I became a SLU Unite for Sight chapter officer: Vice President of On-Campus Fundraising and then Chapter President. I use these leadership positions to help people connect more to the cause of eye care, give them statistics, volunteer opportunities, training, resources and most importantly have them donate to the cause. As an officer of the chapter I recently became aware of the several global health programs UFS have available for students interested in helping with eye care. Personally, I was very interested in participating in the Ghana Unite for Sight Global Impact Fellow Program this August. This program interests me because it is the perfect combination of what I have been learning academically at Saint Louis University. I am Communications major, Biology minor on the pre-medicine track and love immersing myself in issues that concern global health care.This program will sharpen my skills, increase my passion and get me one step closer to my dream.
The Unite for Sight Global Impact Fellow Program that I am currently participating in is twenty days long and located in Ghana Africa in two cities: Accra and Tamale. In this program so far, I have had the privilege to participate with local ophthalmologists, local optometrists, and local ophthalmic nurses to eliminate patient barriers to care and to try to foster an environment that will allow for comprehensive year-round eye care for patients living in extreme poverty. I know that this program is beneficial because I will support and learn from the partner clinics' talented medical professionals through hands-on, structured training. Specifically, every day the staff and volunteers will be working together at Tamale Teaching Hospital and three eye clinics in Accra Ghana. We will also visit poor villages to give more than a 100 patients eye exams, diagnoses, eyeglasses, medication, or treatment each day. Additionally, since I have a special interest in medicine and ophthalmology Dr. Wanye and his ophthalmic nurses will provide opportunities to learn ophthalmic and optometric skills. In this trip, I also have had the opportunity to observe cataract and pterygium surgeries provided at the eye clinics. In my opinion, my favorite part will be the smile on each patient’s face as he or she receives a free eye surgery and can see again.

Along with the Global Impact Fellow Program, I am participating in an Global Impact Lab, which is a research project designed by UFS that focuses on the communication barriers of eye care. These barriers to accessing care are widespread in developing countries and require innovative strategies to overcome them. In order for global health programs to be effective, these complexities must be recognized, understood and addressed.
My research question is: What are the patient perceptions and patient barriers to cataract surgery in the Northern Region of Ghana?

I have three main objectives for my research study:

1. To figure out why people in Tamale refuse free cataract surgeries.
2. After identifying the main reasons - I want to determine the most prevalent reason of why people refuse cataract surgeries.
3. Finally, I will write a research report on my findings. This will help the Tamale Eye Clinic eliminate confusing messages regarding cataract surgeries and therefore they can cater to the Northern Region of Ghana in a more effective way.

My hypothesis is that there are many reasons why people refuse cataract surgeries: fear of pain, fear of dying, fear of medical professional, time, transportation, no perceived need, age, or even experience of others and that the most prevalent reason may be "that it is the person's fate to have a cataract."

So, that is a brief summary of my mission here in Ghana Africa with Unite for Sight. I will update you with more information as I go on each outreach!