Chiri lives in Thankot, Nepal where she loves helping on the family farm and looking after her grandchildren. About a year ago, her vision began to get cloudy. Gradually, it became difficult for her to go about her daily tasks unassisted. Not wanting to lose her independence, Chiri continued to try to do things on her own, until she injured her head during a bad fall. Her family didn’t know what to do. They feared her vision – and her independence – would be gone permanently.
Fortunately, an Operation Eyesight-trained community health worker named Meena visited their house as part of her door-to-door screenings. Meena diagnosed Chiri with cataracts, but Chiri was afraid to go for surgery because she also has diabetes and struggled to keep her blood sugar stable. Over the next few months, Meena regularly visited Chiri to help her stabilize her blood sugar. Once it was safe for her to receive surgery, Meena escorted Chiri the 15 kilometres to Nepal Eye Hospital for the operation. With her diabetes now under control and her vision restored, Chiri is back to her normal life and doing better than ever.
We’re so grateful for our community health workers. Their dedication to their communities drives them to go above and beyond to ensure that good vision and healthy eyes are in the reach of as many people as possible.
