Sandals Foundation brings 'iCare' to MoBay, Ocho Rios - Project travels to Ja for third year

Families in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios communities accessed free eye exams, glasses, eye surgery referrals, and blood pressure-blood sugar screening from October 10-21. Volunteers with Great Shape! Inc served more than 3,000 people under the project 'iCare', now in its third year. Over the last two years, 66 volunteers provided free eye-care exams for 4,000 Jamaicans and distributed more than 5,700 pairs of glasses. Two hundred and eighty-eight 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 at two different locations from October 10 through 14 at the Cambridge Health Centre in St James and from October 17 through 21 at the Eltham Community Centre in St Ann.

iCare Programme Director Steven Stern organised his team of 65 volunteers from the United States and Canada and noted that more than 16,000 pairs of glasses were donated to community residents. Stern said, "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 grateful for the support and sponsorship of Sandals Foundation and all our volunteers who make all of this work possible!"

iCare teams comprise eye-care doctors from the US and Canada, eye-care professionals and support staff. All the glasses and supplies were donated through Great Shape!, Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH), and Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center (LERC). The Sandals Foundation provided logistics support as well as all accommodations, meals and transportation daily to the various clinic sites. The Ministry of Health provides the infrastructure and safety. Stern is convinced, "This is not only a humanitarian health-care programme - 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.