We visit AEI RAVAL.
On the 3rd of June, we went to the Barcelona neighbourhood of the Raval to continue working on the “We look into your in the eyes” project, where 75 boys and girls from the AEI RAVAL centre were waiting for us.
We started the day with a talk by volunteer optician Javi Alcántara of the Bassol optical shop, located in the Raval itself. Javi talked about the importance of good vision health, the indicators and symptoms of vision problems, and he gave tips on prevention of vision diseases.
Next we explained the circuit we had set up for the preliminary examination to detect the cases that needed to visit the booth with the optician.
All the boys and girls passed through the screening circuit, where we assessed:
a) Visual acuity
b) The refractometer and the lensmeter, if the child wore glasses
c) Colour and binocular vision
During the vision screening, we were able to detect boys and girls with vision problems, who were then examined by the opticians in order to determine if the problem was due to a need for optical correction or a pathology. If they needed glasses, we determined the necessary correction to later provide them with glasses completely free of charge.
We prepared some spectacular display cases with Etnia Barcelona glasses, so that each boy and girl needing frames could choose their favourite, and also sent the optical prescriptions to Essilor, where the most appropriate lenses were selected according to the parameters of each case at no cost.
The talk, and the examination circuit were handled by a team of students and lecturers from the optics/optometry faculty of the University of Terrassa, volunteer opticians from Óptica Bassol, and volunteers from Etnia Barcelona.
We delivered the finished glasses to Óptica Bassol to make it convenient for the families to collect them.
WE EXAMINED A TOTAL OF 72 BOYS AND GIRLS AGED 5–16 AND FOUND 30 CASES IN WHICH PRESCRIPTION GLASSES WERE NEEDED.
We thank Javi Alcántara, a volunteer optician from Óptica Bassol, for his commitment to the project and time, and all the educators, especially the director of the Ignasi Sagalés centre.
Thanks to all of you, we were able to make this project a reality.
It was a marvellous experience.