Bausch + Lomb Vision Care Joins Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity of Pennsylvania to Deliver Eye Care to Haiti
Leading Organizations in Global Eye Health Work Together to Provide Sight-Saving Services
FOR RELEASE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
BRIDGEWATER, NJ – Bausch + Lomb, a leading global eye health company, has collaborated with Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity of Pennsylvania (VOSH-PA), a leading non-profit organization committed to preserving eyesight and correcting visual impairment, to provide free eye exams and treatment to patients as part of an eye care medical outreach trip to Gonaives, Haiti, this past August.
As part of the outreach, Bausch + Lomb Vision Care employees joined volunteer optometrists and an ophthalmologist, performing over 40 sight-saving surgeries and examining close to 2,000 patients. Hundreds of adults and children received spectacle prescriptions and were provided medical treatment for diagnoses such as ocular infection and glaucoma. Bausch + Lomb also donated a variety of its pharmaceutical products to help treat patients during the medical outreach trip.
“Bausch + Lomb is committed to offering eye health services and resources to countries worldwide, particularly those that lack the appropriate resources to support them,” said Mark McKenna, senior vice president & general manager, U.S. Contact Lenses, Bausch + Lomb. “We are proud to work with organizations like Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity to help bring an end to preventable blindness and vision impairment.”
During the trip, the team visited the University of Haiti medical school in Port au Prince to assess the progress of the soon-to-be completed medical school which was destroyed in the devastating earthquake over five years ago. Thanks to the efforts of VOSH-PA, and various other organizations such as VOSH-International, Brien Holden Vision Institute, Optometry Giving Sight, and other partners, the first Optometry School in Haiti will welcome its first students next year. The completion of the school and addition of the program of Optometry in Haiti marks a significant milestone within the country, and will significantly expand and improve the way eye care is delivered in Haiti and help fight preventable blindness for millions of needy people.
“Haiti, known as the poorest country in the western hemisphere, has only 50 ophthalmologists to serve nine million people,” said David McPhillips, O.D., immediate past president, VOSH International. “It is with the generous support from recognized leaders in eye health like Bausch + Lomb that we can take the vital steps that need to be taken to make sure we eliminate avoidable blindness worldwide.”
Pictured from left to right: Janice Dody, Bausch + Lomb volunteer; Nancy DeLucia, volunteer; Emmanuella Petion, volunteer; David McPhillips, O.D., trip lead organizer from VOSH-PA, and immediate past president, VOSH International; Diane Snyder, Bausch + Lomb volunteer; Marcha Polection-Smith, O.D. from VOSH-PA; and Michelle Cadet-Honore, O.D.
About Bausch + Lomb
Bausch + Lomb, a Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. company, is a leading global eye health organization that is solely focused on protecting, enhancing and restoring people’s eyesight. Its core businesses include over-the-counter supplements, eye care products, ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, contact lenses, lens care products, ophthalmic surgical devices and instruments. Bausch + Lomb develops, manufactures and markets one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry, which is available in more than 100 countries.
Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity
Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity (VOSH) International is a non-profit organization on a mission to bring vision to every person on the planet, and facilitate the provision and the sustainability worldwide for people who can neither afford nor obtain such care.
About Optometry Giving Sight
More than 600 million people worldwide are blind or vision impaired because they cannot access eye exams and correction. Optometry Giving Sight (GivingSight.org) is the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets uncorrected refractive error, funding projects that help train local professionals, establish sustainable vision centers and deliver eye care where it’s needed most.
© 2016 Bausch & Lomb Incorporated. NPR.0208.USA.16
News Media Contacts:
Kristy Marks
Sr. Manager, Communications, Bausch + Lomb
(908) 927-0683 or kristy.marks@bausch.com
Don Murphy
Zeno Group, on behalf of Bausch + Lomb
(212) 299-8970 or don.murphy@zenogroup.com
United States
