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By Jody Johnson-Pettit
Many children and their families in
Guatemala are seeing better thanks to
a Canadian optometrist.
“We had a man carry his 90-year-old
father on his back across the valley to
see us because they didn't know when
the next time someone would come in
to provide services,” says Dr. Rebecca
Kolbenson, an optometrist from
Golden, B.C.
Kolbenson along with her dentist hus-
band, Dr. Shane Van Biezen, travelled
on a 10-day brigade to Guatemala in
February with the Edmonton-based
organization Change For Children.
“We did four days of clinic in the sur-
rounding area of Comitancillo. Many
of these communities have not re-
ceived any medical care before,”
says Kolbenson.
There is an optometrist in Comitancillo
but the people in the surrounding com-
munities cannot afford to travel to the
city, pay for an eye exam or glasses.
“They don't have access to any medical
services in their communities,”
says Kolbenson.
“We had several school-aged children
who had been held back or taken out
of school because they ‘couldn't learn.’
They ended up being high myopes and
as soon as they were corrected they
instantly became more engaged with
their surroundings often spending
several minutes looking at their par-
ents or guardians, studying their face
and pointing things out to them,” says
Kolbenson. “Those are the moments
that make it all worth it.”
The couple did their last day of clinic in
Antigua, at a clinic called CIPECADI
(Center for the Inclusion of Persons
with Different Capacities) where they
saw special needs children and
their families.
OPTICAL PRISM | May 2018 28