Optical Prism May 2019 | Page 35

care authorities. Working with the local health care system was extremely important in order to leave a lasting impact on the communities, she says. Clinic services were offered at the health post in Bandafassi for three days before the group travelled four hours to Ethiolo for another three days of clinic. “We saw 750 patients in that time and referred 46 of them for cataract surgery. Each surgery costs roughly $120 Canadian. We decided to pay for these exams with money raised by our team earlier in the year. This way, we were able to support the ophthalmic section of the Kedougou hospital,” she says. Jackson says the mission gave her insight into the importance of ensuring such trips are sustainable. “While travelling to different countries and providing services that are not currently available is great, we need to ask ourselves why we are doing it?” she explains. “If the answer is to simply feel good about ourselves, that isn’t enough. I would encourage everyone to consider the dangers of falling into the realm of ‘voluntourism’, and to push themselves to be involved in a way that is more sustainable. “Is it worth paying the fees to import boxes and boxes of donated glasses just to give someone a partially correct refractive error correction? Would it be better to pay a local lab to edge lenses instead, thereby supporting jobs in the area? These are the kinds of difficult questions I face.” OP Optical Prism | May 2019 35