November 2022 Newsletter

October's newsletter did not see the light. This month, however, we bring you a variety of news. The President's insights, highlights of the Annual Meeting, promoting the video to celebrate 50 years of work, a celebration of the awards received by our volunteers, news from our chapters, a successful fundraiser, and an emerging partnership for education.

President's Insights

After the Annual Meeting, President Ciszek acknowledges and thanks our volunteers for their hard work and our sponsors for their support to make our work a reality. Read the whole article here.

The 2022 Annual Meeting highlights

Another hybrid meeting, another great opportunity to share great expertise and experiences. The video recordings will be available on Vimeo to watch your favorite presentations again. Read the highlights of the meeting here. Thanks for your attendance.

Celebrating 50 years of work

A great video produced to mark 50 years of volunteer optometric service was launched at the Annual Meeting. Thanks to all the chapters that participated in this initiative and to Dr. Hyder Almosawy for producing it. You can use it to promote your work. It is available to watch here.

and the hard work of our volunteers

American Academy of Optometry Brien Holden Humanitarian Award

Dr. Hector Santiago, Ph.D., Vice president of VOSH/International and director of research at the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico School of Optometry.

VOSH/International Harry Zeltzer Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Gerard Marie Jean Claude Cadet. Dean of the School of Optometry at the Université d’Etat d’Haïti.

VOSH/International Humanitarian of the Year Award.

Dr. John Daniel Twelker, PhD, FAAO, FVI past President of VOSH-AZ and VOSH/International. Professor University of Arizona, Dept. of Ophthalmology and Vision Science.

Armed Forces Optometric Society (AFOS) Orion Award

Dr. Howard McAlister, VOSH/International Board member, chair SVOSH chapters relations committee.

American Academy of Optometry Henry B. Peters Award

Dr Sandra Block, President-elect World Council of Optometry and member of VOSH/International Education Committee.

Ghana Science Association Young Scientist Challenge Award Winner

Bridget Boamah Appiah, president of the SVOSH chapter at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.

Congratulations to our colleagues and to all other chapter leaders and members recognized regularly for their hard work.

News from our chapters

AMIGOS Fall Newsletter

The SVOSH chapter at the Pacific University College of Optometry -AMIGOS- is ready. Enjoy reading it and finding out about their plans and work. If you have any queries, please contact Emily Bittman, AMIGOS PR, and historian at emily.bittman@pacific.edu. The newsletter is here. Gracias AMIGOS!

SVOSH-PCO still looking for a fellow VOSH chapter clinic during Spring 2023

There was a great response to their first call but the dates did not align. SVOSH-PCO is interested to know if there is any VOSH chapter willing to take 4th -year students prior to May 25th, 2023. If your chapter can help, please contact Jacqueline at sosh@salus.edu.

Sunglasses available

VOSH-Santa Cruz based in Quebec, Canada may be getting a donation of 30,000 Essilor sunglasses. Interested chapters please contact Father Pierre Labine at pierre.labine@sympatico.com. Interested chapters need to cover shipping costs.

Humanitarian clinics information

Please do not forget to let us know about your planned clinics for next year. We will feature them on our website. Wherever possible we would like to put US and Canadian visiting chapters in touch with the relevant international ones. Send updates to our webmaster at venezia@vosh.org.

Together for international optometric education

With the kind sponsorship of ALCON, VOSH/International and the ASCO Special Interest Group on International Optometric Education organized an event focused on how international collaboration can generate bilateral value. The event took place on October 28th in San Diego, California. Examples from Colombia-US, Puerto Rico-Panama, and China-US preceded group discussions where the 23 members VOSH team participated actively. A sub-committee has been established to follow up on the priority actions. We look forward to continuing this work. for more information contact Maria Arce, Executive Director at arce@vosh.org.

Fundraising can be fun

VOSH/International past President Dr. Dan Twelker completed the ‘El Tour De Tuscon’ a 102-mile bike ride, to fundraise for VOSH/International projects. He raised over $2,000 for the second year in a row. We are very grateful to him and sincerely hope he enjoyed the experience.

Support our work

Celebrating 50 years of work﻿