Previous Story
Focusing on community vision
|
Posted on Jul 18 2023
An Army optician performs the final check on eyeglasses fabricated at no cost to the community on Saipan during Innovative Readiness Training Operation Wellness CNMI on July 16. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
A team of four service members from the Naval Ophthalmic Readiness Activity out of Yorktown, Va., is working at the Gualo Rai Children’s Park Youth Center on Saipan making eyeglasses for the communities of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota during the Innovative Readiness Training Operation Wellness CNMI from July 12 to 19, 2023.
Two Army and two Navy opticians work together as a Mobile Optometric Support Unit, forward deployed in a field environment conducting optical fabrication. The MOSU comes with all equipment required to be a self-contained fabricating unit, making approximately 150 pairs of glasses per day.
Typically, IRT missions are supported by one to three optometrists and produce, on average, 700 pairs of glasses in an eight-day mission.
In just the first four days of this IRT mission, the team fabricated more than 450 pairs; however, due to the high number of eyecare providers at the IRT’s three sites, optical orders exceeded 730 within the same amount of time.
If any materials are depleted or orders exceed the fabrication capacity, the team will forward the work to home station in Virginia to complete and ship glasses to community partners for distribution to the island communities.
Optometrists can also provide patients with eye health exams and a full optical prescription to purchase glasses on their own if desired.
Additionally, the most common request on the islands are eyeglasses for near vision, and low-cost ‘readers’ can typically be the ideal solution as they are readily available at most variety stores or optical shops. (PR)
