It’s set for Oct. 15-21.
(Press Release) FAIRFAX, VA – The American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Foundation announces the 2nd annual National Sight Week (Oct. 15– 21).
National Sight Week is a weeklong celebration of volunteerism, during which members of the ASCRS Foundation’s Operation Sight network are encouraged to contribute one or more charitable cataract surgeries in their own communities. The ASCRS Foundation works to match needy, eligible patients with volunteer surgeons, and provides a financial stipend for each surgery completed.
Operation Sight is the ASCRS Foundation’s domestic charitable cataract surgery program. Its goal is to assist uninsured or underinsured American patients unable to obtain cataract care on their own. By leveraging the combined strength of established charitable organizations along with ASCRS-member volunteer surgeons, Operation Sight provides free surgery to those in need.
“The ASCRS Foundation’s Operation Sight initiative offers a solution for Americans in need by enabling ASCRS eye surgeon members to perform charitable cataract surgeries in their own communities with administrative and financial support from the ASCRS Foundation,” said Stephen Lane, MD, chair of the ASCRS Foundation Domestic Initiatives.
In an effort to broaden the growing Operation Sight network and address a backlog of indigent and/or uninsured cataract patients across the United States, the ASCRS Foundation is encouraging surgeons to join Operation Sight and is helping to match them with needy patients. There is no minimum number of cases required to participate, and the
Foundation works to generate positive local press for those practices which take part.
The ASCRS Foundation is currently identifying potential, eligible patients to receive free cataract surgery as a part of National Sight Week. Individuals interested in being considered as a surgery candidate can visit www.ascrsfoundation.org/OSPatientApp to apply. Potential candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible to complete the vetting process in time for surgery.
“National Sight Week is the culmination of our work to end preventable cataract blindness in the United States,” says Lane. “But we work year-round to perform free cataract surgery for those patients in need.”
For more information about Operation Sight and National Sight Week, visit www.ascrsfoundation.org.