“Glasses aren’t just good for your eyes. They can be a boon to income, too”, Gabrielle Emanuel wrote in a recent NPR report on how giving people a simple pair of eyeglasses has proven to increase their income enormously. This message rings true for those of us who know Hope Alliance well as they’ve been saying this for nearly 25 years.
Hope Alliance’s core mission is to provide vision care and eyeglasses to a population of people who may not even know they can’t see clearly. Once Hope Alliance provides them with the chance to improve their vision, this opens up an entirely new world for them.
The NPR story reports about Atker, a 42 year-old grandmother who lives in Bangladesh on a small family farm. ‘ "Before, when I tried to cut vegetables and wanted to see if there were any insects or not, I couldn't see properly," Atker says, speaking through an interpreter. "After [I got] the glasses, the average time that I take for each task has reduced significantly. And I can do more work ... [and] I have this sense of independence."’ As a result, Atker states that her income has increased substantially.
“There's now data that suggests Atker's story is common. For the first time, researchers have directly linked glasses and income. The study – published in PLOS ONE – found a dramatic increase in earnings with a very low-cost change: a new pair of reading glasses.”
Hope Alliance has been providing vision care and eyeglasses to people in need in Guatemala, Mexico, Uganda and in many other countries through their vision expeditions. Volunteers who participate in these expeditions are in awe of how much need is out there and are visibly (pun intended) moved when they watch someone see clearly for the first time. “It’s an extraordinary feeling”, says volunteer, Lisa Mosher. “We are there at the moment of transformation.”
In addition to Hope Alliance’s overseas expeditions, they also serve the local communities of Park City and Moab, Utah. “You wouldn’t believe how much need for vision care is right here in our own backyard, " says Hope Alliance’s Executive Director, Diane Bernhardt. “The Hope Alliance Vision Center @ People's Health Clinic is the basis for a new standard of vision health care in Summit and Wasatch Counties. The Hope Alliance Vision Center is the hub of vision care for our growing community, whose large workforce population has no access to healthcare,” says Bernhardt.
“Hope Alliance's mission is elegant in its simplicity,” says Hope Alliance Board Member, Scott van Hartesvelt. “The organization provides vision care and eyeglasses with a focus on establishing the foundation for sustainable eye care. They focus on under-served communities, many of which have never had access to vision care. Most of all, they provide hope. When a person can see with clarity, they can live the full spectrum of their hopes and dreams,” says van Hartesvelt.
“In the U.S., the U.K. and many other European countries, reading glasses are readily available over-the-counter at most drugstores. That's not the case elsewhere.”
‘"In a lot of low- and middle-income countries, glasses are still tightly regulated," says Dr. Nathan Congdon, a co-author of the study and chair of Global Eye Health at Queen's University Belfast. People often have to get a prescription from a vision specialist before they can purchase glasses, even reading glasses. This proves to be a huge hurdle for those living in poverty and those in remote areas, he says.”
Hope Alliance works to provide a simple solution to a global issue. “We all benefit from a society more able to achieve its potential. We are all enriched when people’s happiness is not hijacked by poor eyesight,” says van Hartesvelt.