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Jonga Trust is looking to the future sight of underprivileged persons who require eye care. This blog is about those people.
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Annual Report 2010-2011
Posted by Charl Laas-
Charl LaasDirector and Optometrist of a private Optometric practice in Cape Town specialisUser is currently offline
EVERYBODY WORKING IN THE FIELD OF EYE CARE, NEED TO BE UP TO THE CHALLENGES AND BE ALERT TO THE CHANGES TAKING PLACE. TO GIVE THOSE IN NEED THE RIGHT TO SIGHT
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Jan 25 -
Every Child Should See Program
Posted by Charl Laas-Charl LaasDirector and Optometrist of a private Optometric practice in Cape Town specialisUser is currently offlineThe Lions club of Tokai together with Jonga Trust has established a new eye care program. The eye care program focuses on eye screening and supply of spectacles for young children under the age of six, living in disadvantaged areas of Cape Town, South Africa.
The program identifies the young children who are in need of eye care such as refractive error or eye pathology. The program ensures the children are refracted by qualified Optometrists, trained in paediatric care and supply the appropriate prescription spectacles. In cases where eye pathology is present, the children are referred for specialist paediatric care to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Eye Unit. At the same time, eye health education on the importance of caring for their eyes, is given in their home language.
To date 1050 children have been screened and of these a 125 children was refracted by Optometrists and given spectacles by Jonga Trust. Another 7 of these children was diagnosed with eye pathology and was referred to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital eye unit for specialist eye care.
...Nov 24 -
Jonga Screens Mayor’s Eyes
Posted by Charl Laas-Charl LaasDirector and Optometrist of a private Optometric practice in Cape Town specialisUser is currently offlineThousands of Cape Townians joined the Global Diabetes Run/Walk on Saturday, November 19, to raise awareness for diabetes, which has been recognised by the United Nations as one of the world’s most severe health risks. Amongst the people attending the event was Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia De Lille and Professor Tim Noakes.
Jonga Trust was also present, manning a booth with Lions District 410A. During the day, Jonga Eye Care Workers screened the eyes of 428 people looking for any visual defects and signs of diabetes in the eye. One of the highlights for the Jonga Eye Care Workers was when they screened the eyes of Mayor Patricia Di Lille, who took the time out to visit the booth and learn more about what Jonga Trust was doing. We were happy to report to her that on the day, 14 pairs of reading glasses were issued and 278 people were referred to local Optometrists and Eye care centres for further eye tests.
The Run/Walk event organized by Diabetes SA, gave Jonga Trust a wonderful opportunity to educate the public about the dangers of uncontrolled diabetes and how it effects the eye. Around the world it has been shown that patient education and motivation reduces the cost of diabetes care as well as reducing the risk of serious diabetes-related complications. Research shows that approximately 4-6 million people in South Africa have diabetes and that 1 out of 4 of these people are not aware that they have the condition. One of the mayor risk factors of uncontrolled diabetes is diabetic eye disease. According to the American Optometric Association diabetes is the number one cause of acquired blindness in the United States.
Diabetic eye disease may include:
...Nov 22 -
Eye Screening at Philippi Children Centre
Posted by Charl Laas-Charl LaasDirector and Optometrist of a private Optometric practice in Cape Town specialisUser is currently offlineJonga Trust in association with the Lions club of Bergvliet had an eye health screening day for the preschool children at the Philippi children’s centre on 25 October 2011. Jonga Trust screened two classes, the Grade R and the Nursery class (4-5year old). “The two Jonga Trust eye screeners, Eubertina and Gavin, were fantastic with the children”, remarked Rose Saville, president of the Bergvliet Lion club.
Fifty children in total were screened for visual problems where each child was checked for squints, retinal disease and visual acuity.
On the day no child required glasses, but one little girl in Grade R was diagnosed wit congenital cataracts. The staff members of Phillipi Children's Centre was also screened and one person was referred by Di Powell to an eye clinic for further eye treatment.
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Oct 26 -
Rural farm workers eye screening initiative
Posted by Charl Laas-Charl LaasDirector and Optometrist of a private Optometric practice in Cape Town specialisUser is currently offlineLions Club of Franschhoek and Jonga Trust ran a rural farm eye screening initiative that took place in Franschhoek for the rural farm worker community on the 12 July 2011. The Lions club of Franschhoek sponsored the initiative which allowed the Jonga Trust community based eye workers and volunteers to screen 207 rural farm workers and their children.
The results of the screening showed that 98 farm workers needed to have their eyes tested for spectacles, 85 needed reading glasses, which were handed out to them on the day and 3 farm workers were referred for an eye specialist treatment.The high hit rate of 91% farm workers needing glasses and eye care, just again highlights the tremendous need for eye care in the rural areas of South Africa.
The trustees of Jonga Trusts would like to personally thank the members of the Lions Club of Franschhoek for their moral and financial support with the eye screening initiative.
Aug 01 -
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