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24.03.2009

Another busy day spent at the Eye Treatment Centre. We started the day with a teaching session where Suzanne, Dave and Lyndsay presented on vision testing, ptosis and cycloplegic refraction. Following this we went to the clinic and worked our socks off seeing a variety of paediatric and glaucoma cases.

The skills we had taught Isatou the optometrist yesterday were put to the test as we assessed vision, motility and refraction on all the children supervised by Suzanne and Cheryl. Dave bribed the pool cleaner and started swimming at 7.00 so he could still arrive at work in time to assist with the many varied and interesting cases.

Stella had a very fruitful day and visited the Standard Chartered Bank and learnt how they have been supporting SZRECC. She then met the Vice Chairman of the Rotary Club of Banjul who invited her to their business meeting tomorrow. Stella was delighted with the progress that has been made.

One example of the problems people in The Gambia face was demonstrated in clinic today. A 10 year old girl was so short sighted that they could not make the spectacles here in The Gambia. She had to make do with glasses half the strength she required and couldn’t even read the top letter on the eye chart. Her new pair of glasses will be made in the UK by Lindsay and shipped out to her and her vision should dramatically improve. She will then be able to attend school and lead a normal life.

Looking forward to another busy and interesting day tomorrow.

1 Comment

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Viviane Brackenbury // Aug 21, 2009 at 9:37 PM

    I am an orthoptist going to Sierra Leone for 2 weeks in October. I would be interested to know if you have any figures on refractive errors by type/size for different age groups.

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