{"id":79,"date":"2025-01-07T07:43:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T07:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/?p=79"},"modified":"2025-04-23T21:14:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T21:14:31","slug":"miguel-aleman-mission-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/miguel-aleman-mission-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Miguel Aleman Mission 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”” woodmart_inline=”no” text_larger=”no”]Dates 3-2-25 through 3-8-2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Arizona chapter of VOSH traveled to Sonora, Mexico to the town of Miguel Aleman to take part in a vision clinic in association with the Rotary Club, Hermosillo Pitic\u00a0and the local government health division.\u00a0 Miguel Aleman is a town of about 35,000 residents with an economy centered around agriculture and municipally associated with the much larger state capital of Hermosillo.\u00a0 The group stayed in Hermosillo and traveled the 45 minute\u00a0drive into Miguel Aleman every morning Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.<\/p>\n

The local government health division, Sedesson, qualified and informed the citizens that were in need of\u00a0eye care while the Rotarians organized much of the equipment transport and assistance of the Mexican high school volunteer translators.\u00a0 The Rotarians also facilitated setting up the clinic and dispensing nonprescription reading glasses and sunglasses.<\/p>\n

The clinic was organized into several stations, following typical patient flow.\u00a0Registration\u00a0was first, where government health representatives recorded identifying and health information. Patients then proceeded to\u00a0Auto Refraction, followed by the\u00a0education\u00a0station which included a 15-minute audio presentation on health recommendations and the examination process.<\/p>\n

Next was\u00a0visual acuity, followed by\u00a0Triage, where optometrists and students determined the patient\u2019s next steps.\u00a0Refraction\u00a0and\u00a0Ocular Disease\u00a0stations were next, operated by optometrists and students, with two ophthalmologists from Midwestern University and one from Hermosillo joining for part of the week.<\/p>\n

After the ocular disease station, patients visited the\u00a0Optical\u00a0station to select donated frames, which will be fitted with prescription lenses by a Mexican optometrist. Adjacent were the\u00a0Reading Glasses\u00a0and\u00a0Sunglasses\u00a0stations, where Rotarians dispensed donated glasses. The\u00a0Pediatric\u00a0station, overseen by a Mexican optometrist specializing in pediatrics, handled children’s examinations with optometry students.<\/p>\n

Optometry students from the US and Mexico were divided into groups and rotated through six stations for a well-rounded experience.<\/p>\n

Our combined volunteer group of 139 consisted of 34 optometry students, 16 doctors, 36 translators, 37 volunteers, and 16 Rotarians.\u00a0 There was a prevailing sense of kindness and willingness to serve that makes this experience truly special and is a testament to the goodness of each individual\u00a0who participated.\u00a0 1854 patients examined and\u00a0 76\u00a0people were referred for cataract surgery.\u00a0 1,046 prescription glasses have been ordered and are in the process of being filled, while\u00a0 455\u00a0pairs of reading glasses and 353 sunglasses were dispensed.<\/p>\n

Dr. David Stacy, a past president and long time\u00a0member, gifted his personal diagnostic kit as an award to inspire the legacy of VOSH-AZ in our younger generation of volunteers.<\/p>\n

A heart-felt thanks to all who participated, organized, and facilitated this remarkable undertaking.\u00a0 We hope to see you again![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes” woodmart_css_id=”6801316f8edac” responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2ODAxMzE2ZjhlZGFjIiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoidmNfcm93IiwiZGF0YSI6eyJ0YWJsZXQiOnt9LCJtb2JpbGUiOnt9fX0=” mobile_bg_img_hidden=”no” tablet_bg_img_hidden=”no” woodmart_parallax=”0″ woodmart_gradient_switch=”no” woodmart_box_shadow=”no” wd_z_index=”no” woodmart_disable_overflow=”0″ row_reverse_mobile=”0″ row_reverse_tablet=”0″][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”” woodmart_inline=”no” text_larger=”no”]UPCOMING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dates: 3-2-25\u00a0 \u00a0Through 3-8-25<\/p>\n

Our mission trip to Miguel Aleman begins soon! \u00a0We will travel to Hermosillo on Sunday (or Saturday, if you wish to help with set-up), work on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and return on Saturday.\u00a0 We will have Wednesday off for resting, socializing, taking tours of the area, and enjoying a beach dinner.\u00a0 We will stay in a hotel in the outskirts of Hermosillo, near Miguel Aleman, and travel to the mission each morning.\u00a0 We believe these accommodations will be much more comfortable than used those in previous years.<\/p>\n

Carpools will be available from the Tucson and Phoenix areas, or you may drive yourself.\u00a0 Hermosillo is a free trade zone, so you don\u2019t need to register your, and the highway is very good.<\/p>\n

You are only responsible for the costs of transportation, visa fees, and personal items (e.g., snacks, souvenirs).\u00a0 Food and lodging for the mission are covered by the Mexican government and the PITIC Hermosillo Rotary Club.\u00a0 To go on the jornada, you will also need to renew your membership (or join) AZVOSH and pay a small fee to register for the trip.\u00a0 Both the membership and mission fees are tax-deductible.\u00a0 Transportation and visa fees are also tax-deductible, if you itemize.<\/p>\n

VOSH optometrists, ophthalmologists, opticians, and non-optometric volunteers will be joined by students and faculty from three Mexican optometry universities.\u00a0 Non-optometric volunteers will help with patient education, frame selection, directing traffic, etc. \u00a0We have a relationship with a Mexican optometrist who will make our prescription lenses at a very reasonable cost to VOSH Arizona.\u00a0 We will also have Mexican high schoolers and\/or college-aged Rotary Club members who will serve as interpreters where needed.<\/p>\n

VOSH Arizona is fortunate to have such a strong relationship with the Hermosillo, Mexico Rotary chapter (PITIC), and they do all of the advance planning at the selected clinic site.\u00a0 We are also fortunate to be associated with several organizations that provide us with eye glass frames, sunglasses, and eye medications.\u00a0 Sedesson, what we would call the department of social and health services, provides additional support and is the government body in Mexico responsible for our mission.\u00a0 We can refer patients that need more advanced ocular care to Sedesson, and there is a high probability that they will be able to provide it.<\/p>\n

We can accommodate a certain number of each type of volunteer, based on number of hotel rooms, how many doctors are needed for student education, etc.\u00a0 As in the past, needed skills and first come, first served will be the guide for selecting the group.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dates 3-2-25 through 3-8-2025<\/p>\n

The Arizona chapter of VOSH traveled to Sonora, Mexico to the town of Miguel Aleman to take part in a vision clinic in association with the Rotary Club<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352,"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions\/352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demolinks2.com\/mike-kozlowski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}