A RIVERINE community largely engaged in farming and logging activities, residents of Low Wood, Region Four are receiving emergency support from civil society groups concerned about the number of persons with vision problems.

Located some 11 miles up the Demerara River from the Timehri dock, the community of approximately 44 households finds itself in a precarious position as many of these persons who require support for their eyes might not be able to access this through public assistance as they have never made contributions to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) despite years of work.

“It’s not that these persons aren’t smart, it’s just that they didn’t have information available to them on paying NIS even if you are self-employed,” Onika Gentle, a librarian born and raised in Low Wood, said.

Gentle believes persons are not taking adequate care of their eyes, an issue which she said is not unique to Low Wood. “We did an outreach in Sisters’ Village in Berbice and it’s the same thing. People don’t take care of their eyes.”

She said some persons only uncover eye problems in their later years when they realise the challenge of reading things in print. As far as young people are concerned, she noted, exposure to excessive blue light from devices can be damaging to eyes as well and all persons must take better care of their vision.

Gentle partnered with Humanities First Guyana and Clear Vision, two non-governmental organisations for community-wide eye tests through an initiative they call “The Gift of Sight for Christmas”.

“We tested over 40 persons in Low Wood with the aid of Humanities First,” Rawle Aaron, founder of Clear Vision, said. Blood pressuring testing was done by Humanities First Guyana while Clear Vision mobilised Diamond Optical, a Georgetown-based eye care business, for support to do the testing.

Most of the persons tested were over the age of 50 with some younger folks included as well.
“We noticed [that]… there were lots of persons in the community that were suffering from cataracts, and the cataract seemed to be advanced, so we were not able to deal with some of those persons because we took an optometrist in,” Aaron recounted.

The Clear Vision founder hopes to return with the other partners along with an ophthalmologist to get a better look at those persons with cataracts.

“The diagnosis needs to be done so we could bring those persons out and have their cataract dealt with,” he continued, adding that where surgery is required, the group intends on approaching the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for support.

Both Aaron and Gentle are appealing to the public for support. For his part, Aaron said glasses could cost between $25,000 and $30,000 for a single pair and where persons could donate glasses to Clear Vision or provide part payment in support of a pair of glasses, that would be appreciated. For persons interested in supporting the initiative, Onika Gentle can be contacted at 611-6743.