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Drs. help out during World Sight Days

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By Treena Mielke

Optometrists at Rimbey Eye Care are doing their part to help give the gift of vision to people in developing countries.

On World Sight Days, Oct. 1 to 14, doctors Lampard, Rudyk, Lund, Hensterman and Stevenson will match all donations to help provide eye exams and glasses to children in developing countries who can’t see well enough to learn at school, and to adults who don’t see well enough to provide for their families.

Dr. Kevin Hesterman said anyone who makes a donation of $2 or more is eligible to win a 32-inch LCD television.

The optometrists remind everyone just $5 can provide an eye examination and a pair of glasses to someone in a developing country.

“I have supported Optometry Giving Sight for five years and am proud to donate to such a worthwhile cause,” said Hesterman.

“It’s easy for us to take good vision for granted so taking the World Sight Day Challenge is a great way to raise funds to help people who don’t have access to even basic vision care.”

Programs that provide eye exams and glasses, trains local eye care professionals and develops vision centres that deliver long-term vision care to people in desperate need are funded by Optometry Giving Sight, the organizer of the World Sight Day Challenge.

“It’s not just throwing a band-aid on the problem,” said Hesterman. “It’s much more than that.”

Donations will enable Optometry Giving Sight to fund more sustainable programs that provide eye exams and glasses to millions of people in need. Money raised through the challenge will go to projects in 16 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

There are 670 million people who are blind or vision impaired simply because they don’t have access to an eye examination and glasses.