Dear Donor, please receive a warm greeting. Thank you very much for trusting our social project located in the community of Verón, Dominican Republic.
The main objective of the center is to contribute to the well-being of the inhabitants of the eastern region (especially those living in La Altagracia province) by offering innovative and accessible ophthalmological solutions; and at the same time reduce the rate of blindness through early detection of treatable visual diseases
The center opened on August 17, 2021 (even though the inauguration ceremony took place a few months before) becoming the only medical center of its kind in the region; offering ophthalmology outpatient services, diagnostic studies and emergency services. In addition, it has surgery rooms designed and equipped specifically for ophthalmology surgical procedures.
As part of the social work of the project, the center has launched the Day for the Prevention of Blindness in Childhood, which is performed throughout several schools located in disadvantage communities. To date this program has carried out 877 visual acuity screening to students aged 4 to 16 years.
The center has served a total of 3,286 patients (all range of ages). Also a total of 603 prescription lenses have been made for optical correction due to refractive defects of vision.
The recurrent pathologies at the center according to the biostatistics compiled to date are: Refractive defects, glaucoma, cataracts and foreign objects, (these last ones are the most seen cases in emergency). The most recurrent surgical procedures are pterygiums in their different stages and chalazions .
In the other hand, in the last months we carried out the second edition of the Ophthalmological Initiation Course, whose objective was to provide newly graduated doctors with the knowledge to be able to start their first year of medical residencyin Dominican hospitals and offer a quality medical service to patients. 24 Dominican doctors participated. The staff of trainers was made up of renowned Dominican and Spanish ophthalmologists.
Please see the pictures attached to this report
Your contribution during the first phase of the project has made a difference in the lives of many people who were at risk of blindness due to lack of timely ophthalmological care.
There is no way to fully express our gratitude for your support.
Best wishes,
Dear Donor, please receive a warm greeting. Thank you very much for trusting our project. This and all the reports to follow will update you on our progress and how your donation is been used in this project located at the underserved community of Verón, Dominican Republic.
Your support means the world to us!.
The main objective of the center is to contribute to the well-being of the inhabitants of the vulnerable communities in the eastern part of the country (especially in La Altagracia province) through the offer of innovative and accessible ophthalmological solutions.
The opening of the center marks a before and after in the accessibility of ophthalmological services in the country, and at the same time demonstrates the commitment of our project to contribute to eradicating blindness in the region.
The center is the first and only one of its kind in the eastern region of our country. The patient services hours: From Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 2:00 pm. at 4:00 pm.
The offer includes:
• General ophthalmological services
• Outpatient consultations
• Optometries
• Visual Assessments
• Surgical interventions
Since its opening on August 19 to date the center has attended 1,830 patients.
We continue to carry out the campaign to prevent blindness in children, which takes place in public schools in vulnerable communities in the Punta Cana region. Our goal is to evaluate 10,000 patients in the upcoming years using a mobile clinic. To date 600 patients have been evaluated
The objective is to carry out the early diagnosis of ophthalmologic diseases in children to achieve their quick recovery.
Please see the picture attached
In the other hand, we are planning to carry out a training course for ophthalmology residents aimed at recent medical graduates with little knowledge of ophthalmology at a higher level.
We will keep you informed about the progress of the project. If you have any comment, advice or question, please feel free to direct them to us and we will answer as best we can.
There is no way to fully express our gratitude for your support.
Best wishes,
Dear Donor, please receive a warm greeting. Thank you very much for trusting our project. This and all the reports to follow will update you on our progress and how your donation is been used in this project located at the underserved community of Verón, Dominican Republic.
Your support means the world to us!.
The main objective of the center is to contribute to the well-being of the inhabitants of vulnerable communities in the eastern part of the country (especially in La Altagracia province) through the offer of innovative and accessible ophthalmological solutions.
The opening of the center marks a before and after in the accessibility of ophthalmological services in the country, and at the same time demonstrates the commitment of our project to contribute to eradicating blindness in the region.
The center is the first and only one of its kind in the eastern region of our country. The patient services hours: From Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 2:00 pm. at 4:00 pm.
The offer includes:
• General ophthalmological services
• Outpatient consultations
• Optometries
• Visual Assessments
• Surgical interventions
In the last months the center has treated more than 800 patients
Recently we started a campaign for the prevention of visual disturbances in childhood. The objective is to carry out the early diagnosis of ophthalmologic diseases in children to achieve their quick recovery. For this, the center has launched an ophthalmological examination mission (by using a mobile clinic) throughout the local public schools, whose students belong to low income families. The students are screened complying with health and safety protocols.
Once the visual alteration is detected, they will be treated at the center. In less than a month more than 500 students has been served.
Please see the pictures attached
We will keep you informed about the progress of the project. If you have any comment, advice or question, please feel free to direct them to us and we will answer as best we can.
There is no way to fully express our gratitude for your support.
Best wishes,
Dear Donor, please receive a warm greeting. We are so grateful for your support. You are making the vision of a better world much more possible.
Thank you for believing in the power of generosity !
We are very happy and proud to inform you that the Inauguration Ceremony of the center was held in the last July 2, with the attendance of the Vice-President of the Dominican Republic, government representatives, executives of our foundation, community leaders, representatives of our partner entities, local authorities among other special invitees. What an emotional moment !
Please see the pictures attached.
This center, located in the underserved community of Veron, will benefit to thousands of people living in this and other deprived communities of the province, who can not access ophthalmological services.
Truthfully, we could not do this without you.
In this first stage the center will serve the community with the basic equipment but there are still many needs to meet in terms of equipment, staff trainings and medical supplies. We look forward to a continuing partnership with you.
We at Fundación Grupo Puntacana are inspired by the dedication and generosity of donors like you, who answer the call to give to those most in need.
We will keep you informed about the progress of the project. If you have any comment, advice or question, please feel free to direct them to us and we will answer as best we can.
There is no way to fully express our gratitude for your support.
Best wishes,
Dear Donor, please receive a cordial greeting. There no words to fully express our gratitude for trusting our project an give us your support. Your donation means the world to us !
Your contribution will make a real difference in the lives of the underserved people who could be at risk of blindness due to lack of timely ophthalmological care, specially those living at the eastern region of the Dominican Republic.
We continue focused on equipping the clinic areas and the staffing as well in order to inaugurate the center in 2021 and start offering the outpatient consultations services.
We hope to offer surgical services in the second stage of the project, the surgical equipment needs to be placed anyway even if only the clinical area is finished.
Parallel to these actions, we are making efforts to reach a collaboration agreement with the Dominican government to put the center into operation with local human resources, of which some would be provided by the government. The signing of the agreement (regarding the assignment of some personnel and others) has been slowed down due to the change of government in the DR.
Likewise, we are dealing with the customs arrangements for the importation of the equipment.
In the other hand, we have not yet obtained the Hospital License from the Ministry of Health.
As we all know government paperwork often do not go forward as expected due to bureaucracy and political aspects.
We hope to open the center at the end of the year, as soon as it has the equipment, furniture, medical materials and staffing needed to ensure high quality ophthalmological services.
We are together in this and we hope that it will remain so , your support help make our project possible.
We will keep you informed about the progress of the project. If you have any comment, advice or question, please feel free to direct them to us and we will answer as best we can.
Again, thank you very much !
All the best,
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
