Organization provides vision education, affordable eye care

A new campus student organization, Unite for Sight, is dedicated to educating people on eye care and providing eye care to those who cannot afford it.

Lauren DeSain, senior in biological sciences, created the Unite for Sight chapter this semester at UT after providing eye care with the Unite for Sight organization in Ghana.

“Our group was able to provide over 5,000 vision screenings, perform 421 surgeries and visit 50 villages during our few weeks in the Upper West Region of Ghana,” DeSain said.

All of the services DeSain and the philanthropy organization provided in Ghana were free of charge to the patients.

Now she is focusing her efforts as president of the new chapter at UT to provide vision screenings and promote awareness in Knoxville.

DeSain said the UT chapter will be performing visual acuity screenings in the Knoxville area. The chapter will be connecting those without insurance to national programs that will pay for them to see an optometrist and referring those with insurance to a local doctor if they do not regularly receive eye examinations.

“Unite for Sight is unique in that it is the only organization on campus that is solely focused on offering affordable or free eye care to the Knoxville community by connecting individuals with national eye health programs and discounted or free clinics in the area,” Peyton Pinkard, senior in Biological Sciences and the chair of the Unite for Sight chapter at UT, said.

The first visual screening was held Nov. 24 in the UC.

“The screening went great,” DeSain said. “Our club was able to connect several members of the community to national programs that provide full eye exams free of charge.”

Another thing the Unite for Sight chapter does is educate people on eye care.

“A major aspect of our chapter will be to provide education programs during vision screenings and in local schools,” DeSain said.

She said one of her chapter’s goals is to visit local elementary, middle and high schools to teach youth about their eyesight and also to inform teachers on how to spot eye problems in their students.

“Teachers are in a unique position to identify potential visual problems among their students, and since many eye problems can be corrected easily if caught early, this workshop program is extremely important,” DeSain said.

DeSain said in the future the chapter plans to collect eyeglasses and perform fundraising for the international programs.

Last semester DeSain helped raise money by organizing a guest lecture and benefit dinner by a Ghanaian ophthalmologist.

“Last year, Dr. Wanye, an ophthalmologist from Ghana working with Unite for Sight, came and spoke on campus at a fundraiser that the Chancellor’s Honors Program hosted in which we were able to raise $1,700,” DeSain said.

There will be a similar event in the spring for Unite for Sight, DeSain said. DeSain added that throughout the school year, Unite for Sight will be hosting several fundraisers on the Pedestrian Mall.

Unite for Sight was accepted as a UT student organization at the beginning of this semester and approved as an official Unite for Sight chapter more recently.

Students wanting to get involved with Unite for Sight may contact DeSain at ldesain@utk.edu. Volunteers will need to register with the national chapter and complete volunteer training.