Summary of the Outreach at Odoayaase

So the outreach was conducted in a small town called Odoayaase in the Eastern Region of Ghana, it was conducted during the Christmas holidays since during these holiday periods most people are in their homes having fun with their families and enjoying the Christmas hence would be able to make time for the exercise. There were two separate teams with the team leader for both being Dr. Joseph, one team was assigned the entrance vision checks, extraocular motility test and the history taking or getting to know the complaint of the patients.

Team two were assigned with refraction procedures for patients who were found out to have refractive error and as such needed optical correction either with spectacle or contact lenses or even surgery. They also had do funduscopy or ophthalmoscopy to ascertain that the back of the eye is healthy also to look out for signs of glaucoma, which one of the main aims of our outreaches since glaucoma is claiming lots of sights day in and day out and hardly can anything be done about it in the late stages.

It was a two day program with approximately 400 patients coming over to partake in the exercise, majority of cases recorded included pterygium, which is a growth on the eye which comes about as a results of exposure to the sun and dust, refractive error cases, some glaucoma cases and the rest allergic reaction coupled with conjuctivities. In all the majority of patients that came in got treated and those that had to be referred were directed to the nearest hospital for thorough and further examinations.

What is @bettervision about?

@bettervision is is a project initiated by @nattybongo and friends to give back to the society the knowledge and skill acquired through the Optometric Studies in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.It is an outreach system where we visit the less privileged communities to offer free eye screening services and education to the people within the community

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To reduce or prevent vision loss through diseases such as glaucoma, cataract and refractive errors.

To enlighten the majority of the Ghanaian population about the importance of proper visual care.

To conscientize people on the need for regular eye checks

To get more people to have their wards screened within the Critical periods of a Child’s Vision Development; thus from ages 3 to till about 10 years.

To help the blind and people with low vision live a better life within the society through education of the general public to stop stigmatization.

Our greatest gratitude goes to @fundition @adollaraday @surfyogi @girlsfoundation @bleepcoin @ackza @indigoocean @nanzo-scoop @steemstem @demotruk @pennsif @steem-ambassador @kasho and @wafrica for helping to make the aims and objectives of @bettervision a reality.

This is me @nattybongo reporting for @bettervision. Thanks for your time.