"iCare" travels to Jamaica for third year

Families in the Montego Bay and Ocho Rios areas accessed free eye exams, glasses, eye surgery referrals, and blood pressure / blood sugar screening from October 10-21, 2011. Volunteers with Great Shape! Inc. have served over 3,000 people. The project “iCare” is in its third year. Over the last two years, 66 volunteers provided free eye care exams for 4000 Jamaicans and distributed over 5700 pairs of glasses. 288 Jamaicans were also referred to Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay for sight-saving eye surgery.

This year’s iCare clinic was held for two weeks (9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) at two different locations – 5 days each:

• October 10 through October 14 at the Cambridge Health Center in St. James Parish.
• October 17 through October 21 at the Eltham Community Center in St. Ann Parish.

iCare Program Director, Steven Stern, organized his team of 65 volunteers from the U.S. and Canada and noted that over 16,000 pairs of glasses were on received for donation to community residents. Stern says, “There is a great need in Jamaica for eye care, glasses, and hypertension/diabetes screening. In Western Jamaica there is no public health optometry. We are so grateful for the support and sponsorship of Sandals Foundation and all our volunteers who make all of this work possible!”

iCare teams are composed of eye care doctors from the United States and Canada, eye care professionals, and support staff. All the glasses and supplies have been donated through Great Shape!, VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity), and LERC (Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center). The Sandals Foundation provided logistics support as well as all accommodations, meals and transportation daily to the various clinic sites. The Jamaican Ministry of Health provides the infrastructure and safety. Stern is convinced, “This is not only a humanitarian health care program – it is about diplomacy, bonding between cultures, and working together.”

Great Shape! Inc. also conducted two other projects in Jamaica, 1000 Smiles and SuperKids in partnership with Sandals Foundation. 1000 Smiles is the world’s largest, international, humanitarian dental project. SuperKids improves literacy in local schools through reading, computers, art, music and sports.  Great Shape! has facilitated humanitarian projects in Jamaica since 1988.