, the Annual Meeting is approaching

In this issue, President Twelker offers us his last Insights. We are thankful for his commitment to share his ideas and reflections in an incisive and positive manner. We congratulate several VOSH members on receiving important awards, share the most updated program for our annual meeting, feature a grant opportunity, share news about the launch of an online publication of one of our Mexican SVOSH chapters and some interesting trends of the profession. Share the newsletter with members of your chapter and friends.

President's Insights

This will be my last President’s Insights as my two-year term as VOSH/International President is coming to an end. Two years is about right. It is enough time to make a difference and still maintain a high level of energy and concentration.

Obviously, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic was the biggest challenge. Thankfully, our Board of Directors and Executive Committee were in agreement on the strategies to manage risk in this evolving situation. We all agreed that protecting lives and well-being must be the top priority. Read the whole article here

Congratulations to our VOSH members

Our heartfelt congratulations go to the following VOSH members whose work has been recognized by several awards of the American Academy of Optometry. Drs Kim and Bob Molter, Howard McAlister and Bina Patel, we are proud of you. Read the press release here.

Marcela Frazier, OD, MPH, FAAO featured by AAO for Hispanic Heritage Month

Marcela is an active and appreciated VOSH member who was a Board member until 2018. The AAO features an article on Marcela highlighting her experience, motivations and why children's vision is so important for her. Read the article here.

You cannot miss the 2021 Annual Meeting

Our Annual Meeting is around the corner. The program includes 4 COPE credits and a SVOSH parallel track with great sessions in Spanish and French. At lunch time, there will be a webinar from Plenoptika. (details in next section). The event is hybrid and times are in US Chicago times (CST). For those attending in person, the Illinois College of Optometry, has opened its doors to us. The rest can join via Zoom. You can find more information in this link

Download the program here

Lunch webinar "Scaling up your global vision care using QuickSee".

October 16th, 12:45-1:15 PM

QuickSee™ is the world’s most accurate handheld autorefractor developed by Plenoptika. Find out how QuickSee has been used by eye care providers to expand their vision care outreach in 45 countries and learn from the clinical results from recent publications. You need to register separately for this Zoom webinar using this link.

Travel Advisory | COVID 19 - Chicago

For those participants coming to Chicago for our Annual Meeting, please note that *Masks will be required while inside any rooms at the Illinois College of Optometry. Anyone that will be traveling into Chicago and NOT vaccinated would fall under the Chicago Travel Advisory and be required to self-isolate for 7 days (with testing on arrival) and 10 days (without testing upon arrival) to Chicago. For the most up-to-date information on the Chicago Travel Advisory, please visit this link.

We thank the 2021 Annual Meeting Visionary Sponsor

Do not forget to participate in the 2021 World Sight Day Challenge

Optometry Giving Sight is celebrating 15 years of supporting vision care around the world. OGS is a key supporter of VOSH/International and VOSH members always participate enthusiastically in this initiative. Please commit to the Challenge today. More information and resources are here.

Batas Blancas is the new digital publication led by the school of optometry at the Universidad Autónoma de México -FES- Iztacala

This online publication offers multidisciplinary views on current health topics. To be published biannually Batas Blancas (White Coats) is a joint effort of the different health professions present at the FES-UNAM Iztacala with strong leadership from optometry. Congratulations for this initiative. The publication is available here.

In the US and Canada the class of 2025 Is 71 Percent Female

The percentage of women entering US and Canadian schools and colleges of optometry for the fall of 2021 has increased to 71 percent (1441 women), compared to last year’s 69 percent. Check this article here

What is the trend in your country?

Vision impairment and traffic safety outcomes in low and middle-income countries (LMICs): a systematic review and meta analysis.

Road traffic injuries are a major public health concern and their prevention requires concerted efforts. This analysis of current evidence seeks to establish if interventions to improve vision function, are associated with traffic safety outcomes in LMICs). Download this Lancet article here.

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