Oak Bay Optometry barbecue raises funds for Senegal ocular health

Morgan Jackson turns Oak Bay Optometry into a barbecue bash venue next week to raise funds for a student optometrist trip overseas in the name of ocular health.

Each year through Volunteer Optometry Service to Humanity – or VOSH – University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Sciencestudents bring eye health to other countries. This year, third and fourth year students head out on five trips this year to Haiti, Peru, Equator, Maldova and Senegal – the trip Jackson is fundraising for.

“We try to stage clinics in these countries with other organizations,” said Jackson. “The special thing about Senegal is it’s really independent.”

They sought to expand the usual trips, building a focus on ocular health in general.

“You can see so many things in the eye,” Jackson says.

The trips are an opportune educational opportunity two years into a four-year program.

They’ve raised $2,100 so far, equating to cataract surgery – an option most wouldn’t even know about – for about 35 people. The team of about 16 includes 10 students and two doctors, including Linda McCorkell at Oak Bay Optometry who will run the dispensary. They’ll spend three days in Bandafassi, three days in Ethiolo and a day with an organization called Aywa.

Aywa provides technical training to Senegalese students in wood/metal work, textiles, and other handicrafts and supports them in marketing and business development.

In partnership with Days for Girls, who sew reusable menstrual kits, they’ll take nearly 100 of the packages with them, to be distributed discreetly by the Peace Corps of Senegal.

The team hopes to see about 18,000 patients, roughly 300 a day. They’ll also have about 2300 pairs of donated glasses, to match prescriptions as closely as possible for patients. The local optometry shop is among the many locations that collect glasses for Lions Clubs who gather, sort, organize and send them back to those in a position to use them.

To fundraise and offer even more help to those in need in the African country of Senegal, Oak Bay Optometry, 2075 Cadboro Bay Rd. is the site of a fundraising barbecue June 28 from 5 to 9 p.m. featuring Hoyne Beer, hot dogs, Maui Jim sunglasses showcase and silent auction.