Making Glasses for Haiti

So last week was just one of those weeks... it wasn't necessarily bad, but I wouldn't want to do it over again. Anyways yesterday turned out to be a good day after I volunteered with NOSA. So NOSA (National Optometric Students Association) is one of the organizations that I am a part of; actually I'll be President next year, which is kind of exciting.. (I'll make another blogpost sometime about NOSA, in the meantime check out the link) Anyways we volunteered with a local black optometrist in St. Louis and made glasses to send to Haiti.

So hmm...how do you make glasses? I didn't know until yesterday. Here is a rough outline, hope it isn't too confusing.

1. The lens were marked with the optical center (which was done with a lensometer) We had a lot of prescriptions lenses ranging from (-.50 to -6.00 D) that were all one large circular shape.

2. So we got trial lens frames, frames with lens without any prescription (that were donated from various optometrists)  and popped the lens out. This took some force, it took me a while at first with some coaching from the optometrists cause I was scared I was going to break the frames...lol.

2. Anyways once you pop the lens out. You put the frames in a machine that traces the shape of the glasses frame.

3. Set the interpupillary distance and mount the lens using the optical center marking that was done earlier. Then that machine sends the information it to the lens grinder. It literally cuts the lens with water and sand and this other stuff.

4.You pull the lens out, heat up the frame and then pop each prescription lens back into the original frame.

It was so crazy!! It was like man I just made some glasses. I know this might sound confusing, because at first it was, but once you got the hang of it, it was pretty easy. Between the five of us, we ended up having an pseudo-assembly line going... and ended up making about 20 glasses. we didn't finish all, but we had been there for a while.

Oh and the Doctor who had his own practice was pretty cool. He was an UMSL graduate and his practice was pretty afrocentric. I He had lots of black figurines, african print, an african drum, portraits of Malcom X, MLK, this Choices portrait that really stood out to me, it was a tiny bit cluttered but really different. like seeing people's practices so I can get more ideas for my own. I loved it!

After that we headed to the loop to get some "Mexican food" was pretty cool. It is nice volunteering and feeling like I am making a difference instead of studying for tests/exams all the time. Needless to say, this is one of those times that I am so happy that I am in optometry school. It helps me stay motivated and exciting about my career choice. In 2 weeks I will be 25% of an optometrist...lol. Just 3 more years..

Until Next Time...