Archive for the ‘Poverty’ Category

Volunteer Eye Resources International – Bringing the Gift of Sight and Hope

Sunday, October 29th, 2017
Great people doing fantastic work

Volunteer Eye Resources International – Bringing the Gift of Sight and Hope

 1915 Main Street Napa, California 94559 USA  info@verinternational.org

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About Us

Volunteer Eye Resources International, or VER International, was created to improve and restore sight to individuals living in extreme poverty in developing nations by providing high quality, comprehensive, community-driven eye care services applying best practices in global health.

Our Inspiration:

Volunteer Eye Resources International was founded by the friends, family and larger international community of Robert Martin, a longtime advocate for vision services in South and Central America. As a teenager, Bob made his first trip to Ecuador with Amigos de las Americas, initiating his lifelong passion for helping others to achieve higher levels of health care, including the miracle of sight. For all who knew and worked with Bob, his enthusiasm, dedication, and sense of humor were contagious to those around him. We honor Bob with VER’s inaugural trip to Cusmapa, Nicaragua in November 2017.

Our Commitment:
Most of us take for granted our ability to see the world around us and our ease with which we to move through our daily lives without restriction. But for those in developing countries, without access to medical treatment and optometry services, poor vision can dramatically impact an individual’s ability to learn, work and support themselves and their family. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), blindness is an underlying cause of poverty and hunger in developing countries. WHO estimates that of the world’s 39 million blind people:

  • 90% live in developing countries
  • 80% of the cases are avoidable or treatable
  • 48% are blind because of cataracts

Our Focus:
We partner with communities in our host country to coordinate and provide adult and pediatric surgery, refractions and eye glasses. Our focus is not only on the provision of critically needed services, but also to educate and train local providers for long-term sustainability. VER works with host communities to ensure all services are supported, coordinated and provided in a culturally appropriate manner.

Join Us:
VER core staff have decades of experience providing vision services to impoverished communities in Central and South America. We invite you to join us in bringing vision services to areas of greatest need, starting with our first trip to Peru in July of 2017 and additional planned for 2017 and 2018.

Our Urgent Needs:

  • Skilled volunteer clinical staff for ophthalmic surgery, optometry, pre-op, recovery room and eye glasses fitting
  • Equipment and supplies
  • Donations to help fund VER Projects

If you’d like to get involved, please visit our Contact Us page to get more information.

Contact Us
Fundadores de VER International en Memoria de Robert G. Martin II ~ 2015

Mrs. Carol Martin
Meghan R. Martin
Robert G. Martin III
Colleen A. Martin
Ryan P. Martin
Rita and Robert G. Martin I
Rose Martin Schneider
Renee Martin Johnson
Rhonda Martin Slingsby
Ryan Martin
Randy Martin
Michelle Sheehy
Vilma and James Salvatore
Dr. Florentino Sotomayor Sánchez
Charissa Cannon Nelson
Cynthia A. Goodale

Connect With Us

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