Hello!  My name is Katherine Hill and I am a 21 year-old undergraduate student at the University of Utah studying pre-optometry.  I work as an optician at the Wasatch Vision Clinic in Salt Lake City.  I have been accepted into the volunteer program sponsored by the non-profit organization Unite for Sight  and in May, 2008, I plan to go to Tamale, Ghana to volunteer with  at the Eye Clinic of Tamale Teaching Hospital.  I will be assisting optometrists and ophthalmologists by screening for eye diseases and operable cataracts in addition to helping with education programs. We will travel to surrounding rural villages to provide free eye-care there, as well. 

I am looking for any contributions to help support me in this endeavor.

Any donations would be greatly appreciated, because anything helps!

The estimated cost for travel and lodging is $2,700.

You can help!  Just click the image below.

If that doesn't work, click this link and send a donation to katherine.hill@utah.edu.

 

Each five dollars you donate will give you

one chance to win a

handmade quilt by Nancy Hill

worth over $500!

Quilt is 77" x 81".  Click to see a larger image  (click to see larger image)

(thanks, Mom!)
 

Questions?  Please e-mail me at katherine.hill@utah.edu

 

 

 

 

 

About Unite for Sight:

Unite for Sight is a wonderful organization that was started in Connecticut seven years ago to provide uninsured people with eye care.  It now has ninety chapters world-wide.  The organization’s mission is to empower communities across the globe to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness.  In addition to providing free surgeries and vision screenings, education programs are implemented to improve public health.  Every volunteer brings 300-500 pairs of glasses to provide communities with corrective lenses.

 

Unite for Sight has sponsored 9,716 sight-restoring cataract surgeries to date and anticipates to reach over 12,000 by the end of 2007.  The organization works with partner ophthalmologists to provide thousands of people with treatment for infections, glaucoma, pterygium, amblyopia, and refractive error.

 

Check out their website at: www.uniteforsight.org.  I'm sure you'll be impressed with their programs.

 

 

  

About Me:

I am from Chebeague Island, Maine and moved out to Utah for college three years ago.  I have known I wanted to work in the health care profession since I could remember. I became interested in the field of optometry two years ago when I was considering different careers.  I have needed glasses since I was nine, so I certainly understood the importance of eye doctors and eye care.  But more importantly, the eyes fascinate me!  I have thought the eyes are our coolest organ since I dissected the cow’s eye in 3rd grade.  I started working at the Wasatch Vision Clinic a year ago and have only grown to enjoy the field more.

 

As I said, I have worn glasses for the past 12 years.  I have always been fortunate enough to be provided with corrective lenses, and I could not imagine not having them – my vision is terrible!  Sadly, this is not the case for a lot of people, both in our country and around the world.  Too many people cannot afford eye care, and many more don’t even have access to eye care.  This thought scares me and saddens me.  I believe everyone has the right to health care.

 

As I was being made aware of all the people who can’t afford eye care, I started doing research about programs.  I found out about Unite for Sight and was impressed and inspired to learn that a sophomore at Yale started the program only seven years ago.  It has grown so rapidly and already done so much for improving global health, I had to get involved.  I started collecting eye glasses the next day (one of the many requirements to volunteer) and decided I was going to do a trip the next summer. I have also started looking into starting a Salt Lake City chapter of Unite for Sight that would provide monthly screenings and education programs to the uninsured along with information of different programs available to them.

 

I have high hopes for this trip and am thrilled to be a part of something so fantastic. 

 

I thank you for your support and good wishes!

 

 

Tell a friend   Tell a friend
 

katherine.hill@utah.edu