Pride and Joy
At Advanced Vision Care, we love helping people become glasses-free, it is our absolute pride and joy and we thrive on being a part of someone’s journey that results in such happiness. And we have lots of happy, glasses-free patients here. However, we are also aware that not everyone in the world is so fortunate and there are people in the developing world to don’t even have access to basic eye care. Therefore we endeavour to ensure that some good comes out of our patients’ brilliant outcomes. Every year, we help over 500 people become glasses-free. They are so thrilled with the results that this leave more than 500 pairs of glasses without owners.
As you can see, we put these homeless glasses to good use. They get donated to our favourite charity, Vision Aid Overseas.
We have also sponsored several fundraising charity events run by our partner opticians Eyesite group, who is a proud sponsor of Vision Aid Overseas and whose proceeds go the charity too.
Founded in 1985
Vision Aid Overseas is a charity which was founded in 1985. It has been helping the world’s poorest people access eye care for more than 30 years. Lack of access to affordable eye care is a significant problem in the developing world, meaning that too many people are having to live with visual impairments which are so easily corrected with the correct resources. This can often lead to eyesight worsening by being left untreated, sometimes leading to permanent blindness. Vision Aid Overseas’ goal is to provide accessible and affordable glasses and eye care for those living in poverty.
6000 glasses donated in the last 13 years
Here at Advanced Vision Care, through refractive surgery, we free our patients from their glasses and contact lenses. This leaves a lot of glasses with no use to the patient. We place importance on corporate social responsibility and have donated over 6,000 pairs of glasses over the last 13 years. Our aim is to achieve a positive impact on society and to contribute towards helping those in need.
Vision Aid Overseas begins to recycle second hand glasses
Second-hand glasses made specifically for someone’s prescription are often too bespoke to be used by anyone else. Considering the cost of the process involved in sorting multiple pairs of donated glasses as well as transportation to rural areas, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) recommended that sending donated glasses overseas was not the most sustainable way of establishing eye care in developing countries. Instead, they recycle the precious metal on donated glasses and sell any valuable or vintage frames to specialist buyers. They then use the money generated to deliver sustainable eye care services in their partner countries.
- They set up vision centres within reach of people in the surrounding areas that provide eye tests and glasses that are affordable to all, irrespective of a person’s circumstance.
- They train local people in the field of eye care so that there is always someone available to provide a good standard of care for the local population at all times.
- Travelling to isolated and remote communities in order to provide eye care services to poor and vulnerable people
We hope to be able to continue helping this incredible charity by donating the many glasses we receive by helping people achieve a life without the hassle of glasses.
Rowland C
Frances R
Lisa W
Hardat P
Miriam
Patricia G
Paulina U
Advanced Vision Care partnered with Vision Aid Overseas 13 years ago.
Over 6000 AVC patients have donated their glasses to help those less fortunate to see the world the way it is meant to be seen.
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