A month after her surgery, Mrs. S’s vision was restored to 20/30 with correction. After surgery she said, "At the time of my injury, I was totally hopeless that my vision would ever be restored. Moreover, I was helpless to pay for the surgery. Fortunately, HCEH offered to provide my surgery for free" (translated from Nepalese).  Mrs. S sends her thanks to all of Working Vision, INC’s donors for the financial support that helped restore her vision.

In February 2011, Working Vision began a program to fund surgery for work-related eye injuries in needy patients. To learn more about our first patient, please read on.

The first surgery was provided for 24-year-old, Mrs. S, who lives with her three children and husband in Makawanpur district, a region in south central Nepal. The S family subsists by farming and herding cows and buffalos. Mrs. S sustained her injury while she was harvesting leaves to feed her livestock and a tree branch ruptured the globe of her right eye.

Mrs. S at home with her husband and youngest child.

Mrs. S presented to Hetauda Community Eye Hospital (HCEH) 3 hours after being injured with a chief complaint of loss of vision in her right eye. Testing revealed that Mrs. S’s visual acuity was limited to the perception of light in her right eye (i.e. she was unable to see objects or motion).

This photo shows shows Mrs. S in the pre-operation room. Her eye injury has been hidden due to its graphic nature.

Dr. Ben Limbu, HCEH hospital chief, advised for emergency right eye globe repair surgery followed by another surgery to remove the patient’s traumatic cataract at a later date. Sadly, Mrs. S initially refused surgery because it was too expensive, and paying for the surgery would have prevented her family from affording basic living expenses, like food. Fortunately, with the help of Working Vision’s operational fund at HCEH, Dr. Limbu was able to provide completely free surgery for Mrs. S.

Mrs. S in the recovery room immediately after surgery.

Mrs. S on post operative day 1.

Back to work: Mrs. S harvesting leaves for her family’s livestock in a new pair of safety glasses from Working Vision.

TREATMENT