Oak Park graduate sees a way to help patients abroad

HEADING TO AFRICA—Oak Park graduate Lisa Rotenstein will spend her winter break from Harvard University assisting physicians as they treat eye disorders among the villagers in Ghana. Eye disease and blindness are common in the country. When she travels to Africa in January, an Oak Park High School graduate wants to help eliminate the preventable blindness that is common among people living in poverty.

Lisa Rotenstein graduated from Oak Park in 2007. Now a junior at Harvard University in Massachusetts, the 20-year-old will spend part of her winter break at home in Oak Park before heading to Ghana for 10 days.

In and around the city of Accra, Rotenstein will work with a team of public health professionals, doctors and volunteers, assisting during cataract surgeries, teaching patients how to care for their eye disorders and conducting outreach to rural villages. The program is offered through a nonprofit organization called Unite for Sight that provides eye care through local clinics worldwide.

Besides her time and effort, Rotenstein wants to bring money and prescription eyeglasses with her. She is paying for her own travel but is seeking funding for medical supplies and surgeries for the impoverished communities. The glasses will be distributed among those who need them but cannot afford them.

In Ghana, eye diseases are common. About 800,000 people are visually impaired, including 200,000 who are blind. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness, followed by glaucoma and trachoma. Many of the diseases are preventable, but people don’t have the means or education to seek care, Rotenstein said.

“They’re ostracized. They can’t work, and their families are impoverished,” Rotenstein said. “The $50 cataract surgery dramatically improves their standard of living.”

Unite for Sight was established in 2000 by a sophomore at Yale University in Connecticut. There are now chapters on university campuses throughout the United States, including Harvard. Others who have traveled to Ghana on the program recommended it to Rotenstein.

“Sight is something most of us take for granted; however, there are thousands of people who are needlessly suffering a lack of vision. This can often be cured with a simple 20-minute operation or the provision of prescription eyeglasses,” Rotenstein wrote in an appeal letter sent to friends and family seeking support for her trip.

To prepare for the experience, Rotenstein took a course on West African history. She is studying Ghana and Unite for Sight and working with a professor who is also an ophthalmologist. On her first day in Ghana, she will undergo training in eye diseases and basic eye care.

“It’s a place where there are a lot of issues on international development that I have really become passionate about,” Rotenstein said.

Rotenstein has experience in reaching out to those who are underprivileged. During high school she volunteered at the Westminster Free Clinic, open weekly in Thousand Oaks to provide healthcare to the uninsured. Rotenstein now volunteers for a Boston nonprofit that connects low-income patients with resources necessary for their health, including jobs, shelter, food and clothing.

“A doctor can prescribe medication, but if a child doesn’t have proper food and shelter that child will not be helped no matter what medication you give,” Rotenstein said.

Rotenstein is majoring in chemical and physical biology with a minor in economics. She hopes to become a doctor. She is also interested in international relations and empowering people in other countries to improve their health and their future.

“I’ve always been interested in helping people. It’s very close to my heart to practice health, not in a sterile clinic or big hospital, but health that really reaches out to a lot of people in need,” Rotenstein said.

Rotenstein admits to being a little nervous about the trip but believes that in order to learn she needs to “work in the field.”

“People there live in a different way than we can imagine, and I know it will be different from anything I’ve experienced in the U.S.,” Rotenstein said. “It’s one thing to study something in books. It’s another thing to experience it.”

To make a monetary donation, visit the website maestropay.com/ uniteforsight/volunteers/ref/ eyesightinghana. Prescription eyeglasses in good condition that are not for astigmatism may be dropped off at The Acorn , 30423 Canwood Drive, Ste. 108, Agoura Hills. For more information, e-mail lrotenst@fas.harvard.edu.