History of Eyes Right Projects

The project is to purchase an Optos Daytona Wide Field Retinal Camera and E-Lift Table for Bluewater Health Emergency Department in Sarnia. This project is sponsored by the Petrolia Lions Club in partnership with Eyes Right.

This $100,000 camera system provides a 200 degree image of the interior of the eye. The value in this tool is that almost instantly, the emergency physician is able to determine if there is any significant issue, such as a retinal bleed, tear, or detachment. This allows appropriate triaging of the patient for referral, allowing both the emergency physician and the patient to be very confident in the diagnosis. The other advantage is that the image is digital, and can be sent via text or e-mail to the on-call ophthalmologist, or tertiary care center for immediate viewing and analysis. This project will make a substantial impact on the efficiency of emergency eye care in Sarnia - Lambton. The intended result will be fewer delays in receiving ophthalmology care and/or eye surgery.

As with the 2019-2020 emergency room equipment project in Windsor, this donation will help fast-track ocular emergency patients through our increasingly congested hospitals, and ensure that they receive an appropriate referral, if needed, without vision-threatening delay.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of their charter as the FIRST Lions club in Canada, the Windsor Downtown Lions Club partnered with Eyes Right to provide a $100,000 grant, each providing $50,000, to purchase ocular triage equipment for Windsor Regional Hospital’s Metropolitan and Oullette emergency departments. The goal is to ensure timely assessment and treatment of patients who present at both sites, and to eliminate the need to transfer patients and/or staff between campuses for eye injuries. The intended result will be fewer delays in receiving ophthalmology care and/or eye surgery.

At a ceremony on 11 March 2020, the Windsor Downtown Lions and Eyes Right each presented their cheque for $50,000 to the Windsor Regional Hospitals Foundation. Both hospital ERs will now be equipped with a slit lamp biomicroscope for examining the ocular surface and a tonopen to measure the intraocular pressure. As well, every one of the 30 examination rooms at each hospital will now have an ophthalmoscope for the ER doctor to view the interior of the eye.

This project will make a profound impact on the efficiency of emergency eye care in Windsor for all who require it.

The project is to purchase a replacement Vitrectomy Machine for Children's Hospital in London ON. This project is co-sponsored by the Belmont Lions Club and the Sarnia Lions Club in Partnership with Eyes Right.

The previous vitrectomy machine at Children’s Hospital in London, Ontario, Canada was acquired in 1998. It is now obsolete, and parts are no longer available. As of December 2017, the manufacturer, Alcon, could no longer supply disposables for surgery procedures using this machine. Disposables are the sterile items used during each procedure, then discarded. This means that Children’s Hospital would no longer be able to care for children with cataract, retinal detachment or repair ocular trauma needing vitrectomy on site.

Pediatric and infant surgery require specialized anesthesia and post-op care available only in a Children’s Hospital, and the ocular surgeries are performed only by pediatric ophthalmologists. Therefore, these cases would have to be referred to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.

In consideration of the high cost of the equipment, Eyes Right worked with the sponsoring clubs and District A1 to apply to the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) for a matching grant. The LCIF Board of Trustees approved our request in January 2019. Without LCIF support, it would have taken over 7 years for the Lions of District A1 to raise the entire purchase price of $140,000 CAD.

This project benefits not only the patients by preventing permanent blindness or reduced vision, but their entire families, who would otherwise need to provide lifelong care for a visually disabled child.