MONTE PLATA, Dominican Republic. – As part of its Blindness Prevention program, the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) is joining forces with student chapter of the Volunteer Optometric for Services of Humanity (VOSH) to deliver free critical eye care and glasses to 1500 children and adults with eye problems, in need of a pair of glasses, and who live in poverty.

A team of 25 students and faculty will travel to the Dominican Republic from March 8th through 15th to remote rural villages of batey Porvenir located in the province of Santo Pedro de Macoris where they will install a mobile eye care clinic. Hundreds of children and their families with eye problems, including cataract or glaucoma will be tested on their vision and receive free prescription eyeglasses and essential medicines to complete their short-term treatment.

The majority of the patients are former Haitian cane cutters who are old and going blind without health insurance or a pension and too poor to afford basic eye care and a pair of eyeglasses; young children who need corrective eye care to preserve their eyesight; and poor working-aged people who will use the opportunity to receive eye care and eyeglasses free of charge.

The team, in its sixth mission trips, is fully equipped and self-sufficient, and travels with sophisticated equipment, thousands of dollars in medicines and antibiotics, eye drops and eyeglasses. BRA DOMINICANA and the local Lions Club Arroyo Hondo Santo Domingo will coordinate the intervention.

Support BRA’s blindness prevention program by making a donation online at DONATE.