FOR many individuals living with vision loss, access to specialized care is out of reach due to its high costs. But thanks to the Caribbean Ocularist Guild, led by Philip Bowen, dozens of Saint Lucians are now receiving custom-fitted ocular prostheses free of charge.
“We’re back here to start fitting more ocular prostheses for people on the island and maintaining the current devices that are here because the service is not offered by people here on the island. This visit is a bit different as we are actually training staff to maintain these devices while we’re away for our two-year stint. When it comes to the Ocular devices, we’re doing about US$55,000 worth of work for the people of the island,” Bowen said.
This initiative is a game-changer. Without it, patients would need to travel abroad, an expense many simply cannot afford.
Since their arrival on the 13th, the team has already seen 16 patients and expects to fit around 30 by the end of their visit. In addition to crafting new prosthetic eyes, they are also maintaining over 100 existing devices for patients across the island.
“This team includes Americans and Canadians and they come and they are providing the services out of their own pockets.” Anthony Avril of the Blind Welfare Association said.
“We’re looking to make around 15 to 20 eyes based on the need, as well as we are maintaining the other devices that are here on the island. We have roughly around 100 patients here on the island.” Bowen said.
Beyond the immediate medical benefits, the psychological impact is profound.
“It’s a service that’s really needed. If people don’t realize somebody has a prosthetic eye, they’re just going to be treated just like a regular person. If they don’t have a prosthetic eye and look slightly different, you might have to enter into a conversation that they might not necessarily want to talk about and might not feel very good for them. So it allows them to continue with their day and feel as normal as possible and basically just feel really good about themselves.” Bowen said.
In a major step forward, the team is now training a local dentist, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, to provide interim maintenance care between their visits.
“People need to have their prostheses adjusted and cleaned and so on, at least every six months,” Avril said.
The team wraps up their work on the 23rd before taking a well-deserved break. Their efforts have given hope and dignity to those they serve one prosthetic eye at a time.