ASCRS News: ASCRS Foundation News
December 2022
“Latoyia was a 38-year-old mother of four working full time at the McDonald’s drive thru. She had such a dense white cataract in one of her eyes that she was concerned for her ability to continue working to support her family. When she was wheeled out of surgery, she was screaming with joy, ‘Oh my goodness, I can see!’”
—Operation Sight volunteer, Center for Sight Foundation
This is just one of many stories that are made possible by the ASCRS Foundation’s domestic charitable cataract surgery program, Operation Sight. Providing vision-restoring surgery to individuals allows them to reengage with their lives and families, secure employment that they might have lost as a result of their visual impairment, and much more.
This has been a year of growth and appreciation for the ASCRS Foundation. As we rebounded from the impacts of the pandemic on our programs, we emerged with a newfound appreciation for those who make what we do possible. Our community rallied around our mission and dug deep to show support for each other.
Not a single accomplishment from this past year would have been possible without the tremendous resiliency and compassion of our partners, supporters, and greater ASCRS Foundation community. Thank you for continuing to show up every day for the individuals who benefit from your contributions.
Operation Sight has continued to be crucial for patients during the COVID-19 crisis. The program serves financially vulnerable, uninsured American patients, who risk job loss due to decreased vision. Through a network of more than 750 volunteers across the nation, more than 8,000 surgeries have now been delivered to those most in need.
This year, the ASCRS Foundation celebrated our 7th National Sight Week from October 9–15, as a call to all members of the ophthalmic community to give sight and remove patients from the waitlist. We can’t thank you enough for your life-changing contributions to the Operation Sight program.
Overseas the ASCRS Foundation seeks to address not just individual cases of cataract blindness but rather to fight its root cause: the shortage of eye surgeons in the developing world. The solution to this issue is two-fold: to create world-class medical centers where efficient doctors can establish a presence and to focus on education, raising the local standards for both patient care and physician training. We’re working in multiple countries to create a lasting change in the treatment of global cataract blindness.
The ASCRS Foundation continues to recognize those leaders whose work advances global ophthalmology. We were proud to announce Roger Ohanesian, MD, as the 2022 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian awardee at the 2022 ASCRS Annual Meeting. Dr. Ohanesian donated his $50,000 award to his organization, the Armenian Eyecare Project, which is dedicated to eliminating preventable blindness and expanding access to eyecare in Armenia.
The ASCRS Foundation remains steadfast in our commitment to delivering educational and innovative experiences to promising young ophthalmologists. Ten Resident Excellence Awards and two Young Eye Surgeon International Service Grants were given as a means to improve access to education and help inspire a life-long commitment to humanitarian eyecare.
We can’t say thank you enough for the immense amount of support you have shown the ASCRS Foundation this past year. Our patients now have the opportunity to regain employment, become independent, and build lasting relationships with their friends and family. We look forward to everything that we will accomplish together in 2023.
