Avoidable Blindness Project Update

Dr. Brad Habermehl provided an update at last week's meeting about the Rotary Avoidable Blindness Project.  The project was the brain child of Frank Devlin, Past Rotary International President, who was from Mexico and owned Devlin Optical.  Mr. Devlin saw the tremendous need for eyeglasses for those in Mexico who couldn't afford them, and thus started the Avoidable Blindness project 13 years ago.  Dr. Habermehl was approached in D6330 to lead the project and he has been involved since its inception.

A team of 25-30 volunteers (Rotarians, medical students and others), led by Dr. Habermehl, make an annual 10 day trip to Mexico to provide exams and eyeglasses to citizens in Mexico.  The team conducts exams and fittings over 4 days and sees around 300 people per day.  Financial support for equipment and glasses is provided by local Rotary clubs around D6330.  The team is welcomed by the Impama Rotary club, who work side by side with the team of volunteers. 

Sunrise Rotarian John Sundwick has gone on the trip for the past several years and is a great resource to the team, since he speaks Spanish.  Our club has provided Dr. Habermehl and his team an annual contribution of $1500 for quite a few years to help in the purchase of equipment and glasses.