Pacific University optometry students envision an eye clinic in Cambodia, seek community support

Pacific University optometry student Tori Kennedy uses a lensometer to verify a prescription on a pair donated glasses that she and her fellow Amigos Eye Care teammates may take with them to Cambodia on a trip in December to start a long-term eye clinic. While the Amigos group travels to several countries every year, this will the first self-sustaining clinic they have established. (Kelsey O'Halloran/Forest Grove Leader)

   October 03, 2014 at 1:33 PM

Pacific University optometry students every year travel to several countries and provide a week's worth of eye care services to communities in need.

This year, students have their eyes on a bigger vision.
About a dozen students in the school's College of Optometry and its Amigos Eye Care group, along with optometrists and opticians, will travel to Cambodia in December to not only provide a week's worth of vision services to the community but also to establish a long-term eye clinic in the area, a first for the group.
The group is hosting a Cambodian banquet Oct. 11 at La Hacienda Ballroom to fundraise toward the $30,000 estimated cost of their travel, the clinic and an eye doctor to be stationed there long-term.
Tori Kennedy, a third-year optometry student who is preparing to make the trip, said she was affected by an Amigos trip she took to Guatemala two years ago.
"Services like eye care services are something that we really take for granted," she said, adding that vision problems that could be fixed with glasses, treatment or a minor surgery in the United States could cause someone without eye care to go blind in a developing country.
"There were people who you'd put the glasses on, and they'd smile," she said of her Guatemalan patients who were able to see clearly for the first time in years.
The banquet on Oct. 11 will feature Cambodian food, traditional dancing and other entertainment for community members 21 and over from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $35, and may be purchased through Oct. 5 at Pacific Eye Trends, 2043 College Way in Forest Grove, or online.