NSUOCO receives donation to international vision care clinic

(Tahlequah, Oklahoma) - Northeastern State Universitys Oklahoma College of Optometry recently received a donation to the Henry and Jo Ann McCabe Vision Care International Mission Scholarship endowment.

On June 20, Henry McCabe visited NSUOCO to make an additional donation to the endowment, which he established in 2010 after being inspired by a National Geographic article about optometry missions in Tibet. The endowments principal now stands at nearly $144,000.

This endowment, along with fundraisers throughout the year, allows Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity members to provide care in impoverished areas internationally by way of makeshift clinics.

SVOSH is a student organization devoted to prevention and treatment of vision care needs in impoverished areas. The primary mission of SVOSH International is to facilitate the provision of vision care worldwide to people who can neither afford nor obtain such care.

Each year SVOSH members take a weeklong trip to Roatan, Honduras to provide eye exams. Along with eye exams, patients receive at least one pair of glasses, surgery referrals for those who need them and eye drops for conditions such as dry eyes, glaucoma, eye infections, allergies and more.

McCabe, who is still active in the oil and gas business, brought along his cousin, Rudy Kesner, who has worked for decades developing ultrasonic machines that may help treat various eye conditions. They were joined by Dr. Alissa Proctor, who organizes NSUOCO international vision care missions, as well as optometry professors Dr. Sarah Krein and Dr. David Simpson, and Melissa Vides, a fourth-year optometry student who went on the 2017 mission trip to Honduras.

Over the past six academic years, the McCabe scholarship has helped over 100 NSU optometry students go on this international mission trip and serve over 6,000 patients under the supervision of NSU optometry professors and Oklahoma optometrists.

"The McCabe scholarship is an integral part of SVOSH's continued success, Proctor said. The opportunity for student doctors of optometry to be immersed in service learning in this manner expands their perspective and challenges them to think globally with the services they provide to give the gift of sight."