Chennai, India Program Details

Program Overview

Unite For Sight volunteers work with Uma Eye Clinic - Vision Foundation to screen for operable cataracts in rural villages and bring those with cataracts to the eye clinic for surgery. The volunteers also work with the eye clinic staff to implement eye health education and screening programs in schools to screen for refractive error, vitamin A deficiency, and other eye conditions.

Outreach Programs in Villages, Slums, and Schools
Unite For Sight volunteers work with the ophthalmic staff to provide eye care in remote rural villages, slums, and schools that are located 1-3 hours from Chennai. The team of optometrists and Unite For Sight volunteers are transported on a van to the villages during the morning, and they return to Chennai in the mid-afternoon. In the villages, more than 100 patients each day receive an exam, diagnosis, eyeglasses, medication, and treatment. Patients requiring ophthalmic care and surgery are transported from the villages to Chennai's Uma Eye Clinic for care and sight-restoring surgery.

Educational Opportunities
Volunteers have an opportunity to observe both cataract surgeries and other types of surgeries at Hande Hospital in Chennai. They also have extensive learning opportunities, including observing Lasik surgery, performing surgery on a goat eye, shadowing doctors during their evening clinics, and learning skills such as refraction, slit lamp, and suturing.

Patients See Results
All patients screened in Unite For Sight's programs receive free surgery funded by Unite For Sight so that no patient remains blind due to lack of funds. During 2007, Unite For Sight coordinated and funded 1,271 sight-restoring surgeries for patients in the Chennai region.

Who Can Volunteer

This program is suitable to anyone 18 years and older who has an interest in international service and health. Volunteers range from gap year students, undergraduate students, and medical students to public health students, public health professionals, nurses, educators, opticians, optometrists, ophthalmology residents, ophthalmologists, filmmakers, photographers, and others.

What Volunteers Do

Standard Volunteers
During the outreach programs in rural villages, volunteers assist Uma Eye Clinic's doctors in all aspects of the eye care programs. They take patient history, test visual acuity, assist the doctors with the examination, distribute medication and eyeglasses prescribed by the eye doctors, and help with the coordination of patient surgeries. Volunteers also have an opportunity to observe the surgeries provided by Uma Eye Clinic's ophthalmologists at the eye clinic. The previously blind patients leave Uma Eye Clinic after surgery with restored sight.
Additionally, volunteers have an opportunity to pursue independent research projects under the guidance of ophthalmologists and optometrists at the eye clinic. Volunteers can also choose to pursue significant time at the eye clinic to learn a skill such as refraction or use of the slit lamp. Each volunteer also has the opportunity to learn phacoemulsification cataract surgery on a goat's eye.
Ophthalmology Resident Volunteers
Ophthalmology residents have an opportunity to receive surgical phaco training from the ophthalmologists at Uma Eye Clinic.
Filmmaker and Photography Volunteers
Unite For Sight filmmaker and photographer volunteers document the voices of patients who receive sight-restoring eye care through Unite For Sight programs. The videos and photos promote awareness and information about global eye care needs and also demonstrate the commitment and dedication of Unite For Sight's local partner eye doctors who work tirelessly to provide eye care to those living in extreme poverty. The opportunity allows students, filmmakers, and photographers an opportunity to learn about development issues while making a significant impact.

Living and Lodging

The Unite For Sight volunteers lodge in a guest house in Chennai, which costs $10USD per day per volunteer for 2 people in an air conditioned room. Lodging alone in a room $16USD. Transportation costs are approximately $4/day. Cost of food is extra.

Special Section For Students: Academic Credit, Clinical Rotations, and Research

This program is suitable for undergraduate and public health students interested in pursuing an internship for academic credit, as well as for medical and optometry students interested in pursuing a clinical rotation for academic credit. You should consult your academic institution regarding how you can arrange this type of course credit. Unite For Sight will complete necessary paperwork required of your university so that you can receive academic credit. Please read the Academic Credit section of the Unite For Sight website.

This program is also appropriate for undergraduate students, medical students, optometry students, and public health students who would like to pursue a research project, which requires that the student have a faculty mentor at their home institution as well as IRB approval. Those interested in research should read the Entrepreneurial Volunteering section of the Unite For Sight website.