Seva Canada: A Solution in Sight

Congratulations and deepest thanks to Jenna Goodhand, Jocelin On and Elizabeth Wong of  “Love at First Sight” for winning Love in Action 2010 and for helping to restore sight and prevent blindness in Tibet. The funds that they and other Love in Action 2010 participants raised will support a Seva surgical eye camp in Tibet this summer and will bring sight to hundreds of people who are blind from cataracts.

The three University of Waterloo students were chosen at the Love in Action 2010 gala on March 17 in Toronto. The event was a great success with over 400 attendees.

Bruce Poon Tip, head of GAP Adventures, Theresa Laurico from Love in Action 2010, and Liz Manning from the Planeterra Foundation selected the winning team.  Here’s their video: http://loveinaction2010.org/teams/

The “Love at First Sight” team wins a voluntour trip for three to Peru, courtesy of GAP Adventures.

“Love at First Sight” asked people this:  Close your eyes and recall all the things that bring you joy just simply by the act of seeing them. Now imagine losing that for life.

“The main focus of our campaign was to get as many people as possible to consider how blessed they are to have their eyesight while showing our love to those in our community and Tibet. We organized and attended 7 events and at every one of them we asked those who attended “What they would miss?” and had them write it on a whiteboard. We made videos with the photos we collected and uploaded them to a website we made and sent a call-out to the world to support the cause and send in photos of what they would miss. We received photos from as far as Hungary, Korea and Japan. In total we collected photos of over 250 people holding signs of what they would miss.”

Seva Canada would like to thank Theresa Laurico, GAP Adventures, Planeterra Foundation and Elleven Productions for all they have done to gift the gift of sight to the blind in Tibet. We’ll keep you posted about the eye camp, scheduled to take place this summer!

In the meantime, here’s a video slideshow of Planeterra’s 2009 Seva eye camp in Tibet:

Source: New York- Presbyterian

A physician at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, using an experimental electronic retinal implant has been able to partially restore the sight of a woman previously blinded by retinitis pigmentosa. The woman is able to see light and make out figures for the first time in 20 years, explained lead researcher Lucian V. Del Priore, MD, PhD, an Attending Surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The retinal implant is currently being investigated for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive disease that causes degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the outer layer of the retina. The inner layers of photoreceptor cells still function in patients with retinitis pigmentosa so the implant is used to bypass these damaged cells to reach the healthy ones.

How the Device Works

The device works as a three-part system. The first part is an external video camera that is mounted on a pair of eyeglasses worn by the patient. That image is processed and then a signal is transmitted wirelessly to the second part of the system – a microprocessor implanted on the outside of the eye under the lid that translates the information into a series of electrical pulses.

Those electrical pulses are then sent to the third part: a tiny patch containing 60 electrodes that is attached to the retina. The electrical stimulation from the electrodes causes retinal nerves to transmit a message through the optic nerve to the brain. The brain then interprets the electrical stimulation into light and dark spots that form an image. The images seen are rudimentary. However, for a patient who has had no vision initially, the level of vision afforded by this device can represent a remarkable improvement, Dr. Del Priore said.

The device works best with high contrast images (eg, a white object on a black background or vice versa) and at night, when there is high contrast between lighted objects and the dark background. The patient who received the device five months ago at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is now able to see large letters on a computer monitor and she also describes being able to see street and traffic lights as well as light coming in through the window of her front door. Her vision continues to improve, Dr. Del Priore said.

Learning to use the implant properly requires a major commitment on the part of the patient, as it takes several years of rehabilitation to learn how to use the device and interpret the patterns that the patient sees. This part of the visual training involves using direct electrical stimulation of the retina; successful interpretation of the image by the patient requires that she participate in one day per week of visual training in a laboratory and then practice the techniques learned at home. The visual training includes, for example, asking the patient to find shapes on a computer screen and point to them, allowing the patient to relearn eye-hand coordination.

The surgery required to implant the device took approximately 5 or 6 hours with the patient under general anesthesia. While the patient treated by Dr. Del Priore and colleagues did not experience any serious side effects, he said that there are surgical complications that can result from surgery of that length, such as infection, low eye pressure, and movement of the device after surgery.

Currently, the device is only being investigated for use in the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa. Dr. Del Priore said that patients with conditions like macular degeneration would not benefit markedly from the current generation of the implant device, as the additional vision gained from the device is not worth the risk of surgery and length of rehabilitation the patients would have to undergo. Dr. Del Priore believes that the technology will continue to improve and offer a higher image resolution in the future. “At that point, we will have more experience and it is likely that use of multi-electrode arrays will likely expand to other eye diseases,” he said.

Faculty Contributing to this Article:

Lucian V. Del Priore, MD, PhD, is an Attending Surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Congratulations to the Canadian blind skier, Viviane Forest, for her second medal of the Paralympics at home in Whistler. Ms. Forest, who only started seriously skiing three years ago, followed her guide Lindsay Debou down the steep pitch of Creekside, winning bronze in the visually impaired giant slalom event.

Ms. Forest, 30, has only about 5 per cent vision. She sees blurry vague shapes, having been born with albinism and retinitis pigmentosa.

The visual problems particularly associated with albinism arise from a poorly developed retina due to the lack of melanin.

Where Seva works in Tanzania there are many children and adults with albinism who suffer from serious visual problems. Many children with albinism are placed by their families in blind schools, not just because they need visual aids, but for safety reasons, because their lives are threatened because of a series of brutal attacks against those with albinism.

The following slide show of photographs by Dutch photographer, David de Wit, gives a glimpse of some of the eye care programs that Seva Canada supports in Tanzania and elsewhere in eastern Africa through our partner, the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology in Moshi.

Many of David’s photos were taken in blind schools and annexes and show some of the vision aids that can be used to help children manage in school, such as glasses, large print materials, angled reading stands, hand-held devices such as magnifiers and monoculars (like a little telescope).

Other images were taken at the outreach camps held by KCCO to treat a variety of eye conditions including refractive error, eye infections, eye injuries and to find and transport patients who need cataract surgery.

Thank you, David, for these wonderful photographs!

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of John Mills, a wonderful Seva supporter from Nanaimo, BC who passed away on January 26, 2010 after a courageous battle with cancer. Seva board member, Susan Erdmann, writes:

Everybody loved John Mills. When he traveled with us on the donor trip to Nepal in March 2009, he was the one that everyone was happy to be with. He camped, walked tirelessly, investigated everything, drank up Nepal and never once complained or had anything but positives to express about what he saw, experienced or encountered. He loved his beer, tried all the local food and was game for anything else that came along. Yes, John was special and will be sorely missed.

We have just learned that John’s dedication to Seva’s mission to restore sight and prevent blindness will continue through a bequest that John left in his Will. John requested that his legacy gift be designated to Seva’s eye care programs in Nepal.

March 13, 2010
Penny Lyons, Executive Director, Seva Canada

This afternoon marked the end of the Gender Inequity in Eye Care conference hosted by KCCO. It was a remarkable experience.

Each participant was passionate about equity in accessing eye care recognizing that the strategies developed by this group can have implications far beyond the obvious of getting women and children in for eye care services. The knowledge, research and experience shared by each country, institution, and program can be easily replicated into many, if not most, other health interventions and can have a significant impact on  other of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals such as poverty reduction, education and maternal and child health.  Today, plans were made for the future.  Next steps such as advocacy, public policy, research, human resource investment and public awareness were discussed and each individual present made a commitment to take specific action.

There was no championing of individual program or NGO interests.  No arguing about where funding would be directed and who would be represented in a public relations campaign.  Instead it was about as disparate a group of individuals as one could imagine working toward a common goal and a greater good.

It’s amazing really the connections that were made:  a Tibetan woman chatting with a Muslim woman from Kenya about common experiences as young, female professionals; a Nepali program manager offering advice to an ophthalmologist from Malawi about creating a community ophthalmology program; participants from 25 years old to 65 years old dancing in a circle at a local Reggae club and just enjoying the music and each other’s company.

At Seva we always say that “it’s all done with people”.    This is one of those times.

There are over 63 million searches in Google on the topic of How Coffee Benefits Your Health. We want to tell you how your coffee drinking can benefit the health of others.

Now you can buy coffee with a heart! If you order coffee online through Blenz Cares and designate Seva as your charity, then for each $16.99 bag of coffee sold,  $8.27 will be donated by Blenz to fund Seva Canada’s eye care programs. The minimum online order is 6 bags, so each order will raise $49.62 for Seva — enough to fully fund a sight-restoring eye surgery including the pre- and post-operative care and medications. Now that’s truly an eye-opening cup of coffee!

Blenz Cares whole-bean Machu Picchu Coffee from Peru is triple certified — organic, shade grown so it’s bird friendly, and certified fair trade. Order yours today at Blenz Cares and help restore sight and prevent blindness in some of the world’s poorest countries.

To help fundraise for Seva you can download our Seva & Blenz Cares Coffee Order Form and collect coffee orders from your friends, family, colleagues, book club members and team members. It’s a simple way to multiply the power of saving sight and to get great coffee at the same time.

What Makes Seva Unique?

Seva Canada is often asked, “What makes you different from other eye care organizations?”

While many, if not most, eye care organizations are committed to restoring sight and eliminating blindness. Each has its own approach to this health crisis.

Seva Canada is guided by these principles:

*   Our belief in equal access to eye care for all.
*   Our belief that, with adequate resources, all people can meet their own needs.
*   Our commitment to working with international partners to build local, sustainable eye care programs.
*   Our respect for cultural, ethnic, spiritual and other forms of diversity.
*   Our commitment to inform and inspire Canadians to join us in achieving our mission.

Specifically Seva Canada:

*  Invests in the creation and testing of innovative strategies to eliminate preventable and treatable blindness. Seva and our partners are always learning new, more efficient and more equitable ways to deliver services.
*  Focuses on capacity building and long-term results. We find excellent partners and maintain our relationship until our funding is no longer required.
*  Embeds gender-sensitive strategies in all of its programs, provides each partner with the funding and expertise to achieve gender equality and teaches all of its partners how to monitor the effectiveness of their strategies.
*  Bases all program decisions on “best practices” developed through practical on-the-ground experience with operational research. Seva Canada has considerable scientific strengths and its staff and partners are often considered to be global leaders in specific areas of eye care.
*  Makes a concerted effort to support and document the knowledge it has gained which has resulted in significant changes to programs and practices.
*  Supports capacity building of key partner institutions to become regional and global leaders. This “multiplier effect” has increased Seva Canada’s impact far beyond the funding provided for program work.
*  Works with a wide variety of partners including district and national health ministries, Canadian and international companies, international and national NGOs, service organizations and community-based organizations.

Moshi, Tanzania March 10, 2010
Penny Lyons, Seva Canada’s Executive Director

It is wonderful to be back in Tanzania. KCCO is humming with activity as guests arrive from all corners of the globe. The reason for all this activity is KCCO, together with the British Columbia Centre for Epidemiologic and International Ophthalmology and Seva Canada are hosting a gender and health meeting March 11-13 “Reducing Gender Inequity in Eye Care – Translating our Knowledge into Action”. Funding for this meeting was provided by a grant from the Canadian Institute for Health Research.  Participants include representatives from The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, the Tanzanian office of CIDA, the International Development Research Council, Seva partners from Tibet, Nepal, Egypt, India and Seva Foundation as well as participants from across Africa.

The goals of the meeting are to: share findings and effective techniques to reduce gender bias; share that knowledge at the national and international level; determine how to use these strategies, developed through eye care, in other health systems such as maternal and child health care; and to create new collaborations across regions and countries.

One of the key participants in this meeting is Herieth Mganga, KCCO’s gender and blindness coordinator. I had the opportunity to go into the field with Herieth yesterday. Our purpose was to interview Sentinels – women in the communities who are trained to find people who are suffering from debilitating eye conditions, like cataract, and ensure they receive the treatment they require.

We interviewed four Sentinels in the Hai District on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. These four women, Nkiraeshiwakwa, Hilda, Aziza and Raheima, have little formal education but have been trained by KCCO to detect eye conditions and to provide information and support to those needing services. They are an amazing group of women: dedicated, compassionate and determined. In the two years since the Sentinel program was implemented, the number of women, children and men accessing services has increased dramatically. They are treated with respect and admiration and now provide feedback to KCCO on how the program might be improved to reach more people in need.

While in the field we also met with some of the patients, found by the Sentinels and treated through KCCO. The patients, men and women alike, were grateful for the eye care provided and were glowing with praise and pride for the women in their community who had made it possible for them to see again.

Recently, Ms. Anh Tang, a teacher in Nanaimo, had eye sugery performed by Dr. Martin Spencer, an ophthalmologist and long-time Seva board member.

Ms. Tang’s Grade 4/5 students at Pauline Haarer School in Nanaimo were grateful that their teacher was back and could see well. To “pay it forward”, Ms. Tang and her students organized three potluck lunches as fundraisers for Seva. Together the students and Ms. Tang donated $200 towards Seva’s sight programs — enough to fund at least 4 sight-restoring eye surgeries.

A Certificate of Appreciation has been sent to the school together with a story of a blind mother who, thanks to the efforts of her 6-year-old daughter, had her eyesight restored. There is no limit to the power of the human heart to change the world.

Thank you to the students of Pauline Haarer and to Anh Tang for their kindness and compassion and for helping the blind see again.