Community
Lions Annual WhiteCane Week
The Lions Club of Grand Cayman celebratedits annual White Cane Week this year from 20 through 26 May. Achurch service was held on 20 May at 10 a.m. to start off thecelebration and will end with their usual street collection onthe 26.
Among the Club's objectives are to createawareness of the efforts of the Lions' Sight Conservation andpreventable Blindness programme, raise funds to assist in financingvarious projects throughout the Cayman Islands and also to promotediabetes awareness through the awareness of regular check-up andproper vision care.
Other projects in store include supportof the Lions' Eye Clinic; sight and diabetes education is promotedthrough radio and print media. Pamphlets are distributed to allHealth Centres, pharmacies and other venues throughout the Islands.
Sight screening is conducted annually atall public and private schools. Years 2 through 11's studentsare screened by local doctors, free of charge. The Sight programmealso includes the recycling of used eyeglasses and providing spectaclesto needy persons within the community. Funds are also made availableto finance vision care, treatment and surgical expenses for personsin need.
A Lions Club spokesperson recently sightedthe tragic reality that 40 million people worldwide live eitherwith radically limited sight, or in total darkness. If this trendis not dramatically controlled, by the year 2015, it is possiblethat this number could double.
Back in 1925, a caring nurse, Helen Keller challenged the LionsClubs International to become 'Knights of the Blind'. Since then,all Lions Clubs, including the local chapter have made the eradicationof reversible and preventable blindness their top priority.
The Lions Club of Grand Cayman started itsSight Conservation programme in 1974 by financing an eye operationat the Bascom Palmer Institute. The cost of repairing a detachedretina was $2,700, a tiny sum back then. In those early days,the Lions visited the districts with charts to screen the elderlyfor eye defects.
In 1992, the Club decided that in orderto effectively support its Sight Programme it needed a centralfacility. With the help of the corporate community, the generalpublic and the Government, the Lions' Eye Clinic was completedat a cost of $240,000.
"Enough praise and thanks cannot begiven to our doctors who provide yeoman service during the yearat no cost to the club", stated the President of the LionsClub of Grand Cayman, Steve Scott.
The Club continues its discussions withthe Ministry of Health for the establishment of a local Eye Bank.This is something the Club believes can greatly enhance the servicesprovided by the Lions' Eye Clinic with the availability of organs.
"The Lions Club of Grand Cayman continuesto appeal for donations which will help to provide first classquality eye care and to help preserve the precious gift of sightto our children, elderly and financially disadvantaged citizens",said President Steve Scott.