14 | EYEWORLD | SEPTEMBER 2023
ASCRS NEWS
ASCRS FOUNDATION UPDATE
by Megan Odell
ASCRS Foundation
Associate Director
ASCRS Foundation celebrates
8th National Sight Week
Your generosity will give the gift of sight to
a patient awaiting care. Be sure to engage and
follow the ASCRS Foundation on your favorite
social media platform during National Sight
Week to help spread awareness about those
affected by vision impairment.
For more information about how to support
the Foundation, contact Megan Odell, ASCRS
Foundation Associate Director, at modell@ascrs.
org, or for Operation Sight questions, contact
Rachel Goode, Operation Sight Program
Manager, at rgoode@ascrs.org.
T
he ASCRS Foundation, the philan-
thropic arm of ASCRS, has been
a driving force behind numerous
initiatives that promote education,
research, and patient care. Since
2014 with the inception of Operation Sight,
the Foundation's domestic charitable cataract
surgery program, the Foundation has provided
nearly 10,000 surgeries to underserved individ-
uals in the U.S. With 750 volunteers dedicated
to making cataract care accessible in their local
community, patients can return to work, support
their families, and regain their independence.
Since 2015, Operation Sight has celebrated
National Sight Week, coinciding with World
Sight Day, as a call to all members of the oph-
thalmic community to join in restoring sight.
This important week grows awareness for the
year-long program, celebrates the volunteers
that make it possible, and most importantly,
gives sight to more patients in need. Whether
you are a registered Operation Sight volunteer
like Regina Sun, MD, from Berkley Eye Center,
in Houston, Texas, or looking to give back
to your local community for the first time,
National Sight Week is the perfect opportunity
to get involved.
"We are already so well trained to do cat-
aract surgery, and adding one patient a month
will really impact the local community," Dr. Sun
said. "There is no minimum requirement and
obviously no upper limit to the patients you
can help. We all know that cataract surgery can
make a huge difference in someone's life. Why
not help those who don't have the resources for
cataract surgery?"
This year's National Sight Week will be
held October 8–14, and we invite all members
of the ophthalmic community to give sight and
remove patients from the ever-growing waitlist.
Operation Sight provides ophthalmologists and
practices the opportunity to provide charitable
care to a pre-screened patient in need within
their own community. Now is the time to get in-
volved. With your support, the Foundation will
add your name and practice to its recognition
page. To register to volunteer, visit www.ascrs.
org/foundation/operation-sight, or to donate,
visit www.ascrs.org/foundation/donate.
Rachel Goode, Operation Sight Program Manager (left), and
Megan Odell, ASCRS Foundation Associate Director (right),
visit Dr. Sun at Berkley Eye Center.
Source: ASCRS Foundation
"We all know that cataract
surgery can make a huge
difference in someone's life.
Why not help those who
don't have the resources
for cataract surgery?"
–Regina Sun, MD
Contact
info@ascrsfoundation.org
