Thinking about helping out on a VOSH-One trip? Please don’t hesitate to inquire about joining one of the VOSH-ONE eyecare clinics listed below. If these don’t work for you, go to www.VOSH.org for information regarding other VOSH trips around the globe.

In January, 2009, four faculty members and a team of students from the New England College of Optometry will return to the Bluefields area of Nicaragua to team up with Bob Peck, program coordinator of a team of Williams College students. Contact: harbe@neco.edu

  A group of ODs will assist a multi-disciplinary medical mission (ASAPROSAR) when it returns to Santa Ana and San Miguel, El Salvador, in late January; 2009. Contact: harryizeltzer@comcast.net

At the request of one of his patients who is a native of Guatemala and is involved in projects there, Derek Feifke, OD, will lead an eyecare team to the area of Antigua, Guatemala, from March 15-22, 2009. Contact: decabs@aol.com

Chris Fields,OD, and Jay Jordan, OD, will be leading a team to the area of Managua, Nicaragua, in early February, 2009. Contact CMJFields@aol.com

SVOSH-ONE, the student VOSH group at the New England College of Optometry, is planning a VOSH trip to the Dominican Republic or Argentina during the week of April 11, 2009. Faculty Advisor is Bina Patel, OD. Contact: PatelB@neco.edu or student leader wendy_crusberg@neco.edu

Linda Bennett, OD, of Belmont, will be leading a trip to Armenia from October 9-22, 2009. Contact lbennettod@earthlink.net

Jenifer Ambler, OD, of Vermont is the leader of the eyecare portion of a mixed medical group known as the “Sight and Bite” team, which has been active in Suchitoto and Apopa, El Salvador, since the early 1990s. Return date: November, 2009. Contact: amblerj@sover.net

VOSH-ONE is a chapter of  VOSH/INTERNATIONAL. The organization is dedicated to the preservation of human sight, mainly in developing countries where there is no welfare system. VOSH-ONE accomplishes it's goals through it's own missions or by assisting other groups with the same purpose.

From our VOSH-ONE president’s desk... By Derek Feifke, OD

It is with this in mind that we urge not only current members to renew but also all non-participating colleagues to consider becoming members of our wonderful organization.

In 2008, VOSH-ONE volunteers carried out missions to Blue fields and Ometepe, Nicaragua, Santa Ana and San Miguel, El Salvador, as well as the Bateyes in the Dominican Republic. Approximately 4,500 patients were examined by VOSH-ONE affiliates during 2008.

VOSH-ONE has several trips planned for 2009, including missions to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Armenia.

Student VOSH participation at the New England College of Optometry continues to be very strong and now numbers over 200 active members. The future of VOSH volunteerism bodes well, as demonstrated by the enthusiasm and spirit of our young colleagues.


VOSH-ONE, with VOSH/INTERNATIONAL is now affiliated with IMEC (International Medical Equipment Collaborative). See www.IMECAMERICA.org.

This Andover-based organization gathers and ships donated used medical equipment, including ophthalmic equipment to impoverished communities all over the world.

If you have any surplus equipment in good, useable condition, please consider donating it to IMEC. Feel free to contact me at decabs@aol.com for inquiries.

Finally, I encourage any doctor who has not participated in an eye care mission or has not experienced the special feeling of making a difference in the life of someone who has no access to basic eye care or eyeglasses, to get involved in VOSH and share in this truly life-altering venture.

In October 2009, VOSH-ONE will make its third trip to Armenia. The current plan is to depart on October 9 and return on October 22. As in past trips, we are looking for at least eight optometrists and sixteen volunteers for the trip.

We will hold clinics in small villages outside of Yerevan where the need for eye care is great. All patients are screened prior to our visit so only those with the greatest need are seen.

Our group will be housed in Yerevan which has changed in the past few years. The United States has located its second largest embassy in Yerevan which has led to much building. Our group will stay at the same government guest house that we have used in the past. It is centrally located so that in your free time, you can explore the city.

Our VOSH-ONE group works with AMARAS, a local volunteer group, which makes all arrangements with the Armenian government and provides us with Armenian volunteer translators. In the past, they have arranged for us to be hosted in local homes so that we can enjoy Armenian food and friendships. We will travel by bus to outlying villages and stop along the way to see interesting sights.

As we all know, the US dollar has lost its value in the last year. This year’s trip is estimated to cost approximately $2600. This will include airfare, accommodations, travel to the clinics, and most meals. There are very few flights to Yerevan. Therefore we must ask for $1400 by December 30 to hold our Air France reservations. for more information, lbennettod@earthlink.net

Ayudando y hablando espanol... By Joe Raczek, OD

For the last 4 years I’ve taken part in an annual VOSH-ONE eyecare trip to southern Nicaragua; every year I send a brief summary e-mail of our group’s adventures and misadventures. So, here we go again.
This year, 4 optometrists, one med student functioning as an optometrist, one ophthalmologist, and one optician, along with about 10 support people, travelled together and did 4 days of clinics; one near San Juan del Sur and three on the island of Ometepe. While we are seeing some improvement in local living conditions, in the countryside where we do our clinics, nothing much has changed: still no eyecare, very little medical care, and no one has money for glasses or indeed, much of anything else.
People waited in long lines for a rudimentary exam and to get glasses if needed. We provided over 1,400 exams. Almost all the disease we saw was not treatable as we had no surgical facilities, or the condition was chronic and needed followup.
On a personal note, every year I’ve gone, I’ve worked hard and always said that I’d love to just visit, study Spanish, vacation and not have to work so hard; that is precisely what I did earlier this year. I saw patients in the permanent clinic VOSH-ONE has set up in San Juan del Sur and I enrolled in a local Spanish school, studying from eight AM to noon daily. I’d like to think this will be especially useful for me in future years when we travel to rural clinics deep in the countryside where hardly any English is spoken.

VOSH-ONE would like to thank accountant Gary Vostok of Clinton, MA who has donated his services for the document filings required to change our name from VOSH-NECO to VOSH-ONE.

Your Board made the decision to make this name change in order to avoid confusion with the New England College of Optometry (NECO), which appropriated this acronym in 2007 to better reflect its organization.

We are grateful to Safilo USA which has generously underwritten the cost of setting up and maintaining our website for 2008. In addition, Safilo has donated 5,000 readers for use on VOSH-ONE eyecare clinics. Thank you, Safilo!

VOSH-ONE would also like to thank the donors who continue to make special contributions to the Armenian Eyeglass Fund. The team travels with a supply of glasses.

However, some eyeglass prescriptions will have to be filled in Armenia by a local optician. Estimated need for funding for this project is $2,500.

Already, donations amounting to $1,200 have been earmarked for the fall, 2009 Armenia eyecare clinic.

VOSH-ONE would also like to acknowledge a $500 donation for 2008 from the New Hampshire Paraoptometric Society. Along with their financial support, we applaud their participation in eyecare teams.

Successful IMEC collaboration brings about
upgrades to Nicaraguan health center, hospital...
By Macy Lawrence VOSH-One /GHC volunteer

Several years ago, VOSH-ONE members Jay Jordan, OD, Chris Fields, OD, the New Hampshire Rotary and others, formed a separate non-profit organization to somehow get good, used medical and surgical equipment to third-world countries. Our group began fundraising and forged a relationship with International Medical Equipment Collaborative (IMEC) which has since entered a further collaboration with VOSH-INTERNATIONAL to collect and distribute eyecare equipment to areas of dire need around the globe. (See above article that begins on page 1.) Partnering with IMEC in 2006, we initially delivered $400,000 in donated medical equipment and supplies to the Centro de Salud in San Juan del Sur (SJDS), Nicaragua.

This was a logical site, as we became aware of the need in this area through Dr. Jordan’s and Dr. Field’s participation in VOSH eyecare missions here. Indeed, this shipment served to upgrade the quality and range of services provided by that local healthcare facility for the indigent. In 2007 we shipped $350,000 in beds and pediatric equipment to the hospital in Rivas, approximately two hours away from San Juan del Sur. An additional major shipment of operating room and critical care equipment valued by IMEC at $750,000 was delivered in August, 2008.

The Rivas project was largely funded by a matching grant awarded by the Rotary International Foundation to the Woodstock, VT Rotary. Fourteen Rotary Chapters in District 7870 supported the effort. Global Health Care’s efforts at the SJDS Centro de Salud and the promise of additional equipment for Rivas encouraged SJDS Mayor Holmann and the then director of the Rivas Hospital to apply to the national government for funds to improve the physical plant of the Rivas hospital. Ultimately Rivas received over $1 million for a new operating room wing for the hospital which was just completed in September. In all, Global Health Care is responsible for shipping approximately $1.5 million in equipment/supplies to Rivas over the past two years, with $1.2 of it going to improve critical care at the hospital.