RAM, Remote Area Medical, And Optometry Volunteerism

It’s much more common to hear about myopia at my age and less so with hyperopia. But the prevalence of hyperopia really struck me when I volunteered for Remote Area Medical last week. What is RAM? Basically it is an event where free healthcare is given to those who cannot afford it on their own. I volunteered in the lab making glasses as well as dispensing them. With no stretch of the imagination, it seemed at least 75% of the glasses I made were for hyperopes. Some had it bad like +4.00 with a +2.00 add. It makes me wonder how long these people, who could not afford to update their glasses, have been functioning especially at close. With that much uncorrected hyperopia at near, I can’t imagine they could have been reading all that well. A pair of glasses, contact lenses, or even hyperopic orthokeratology could have done wonders.

Could the inability to read presently, and the accommodative demand manifesting as eye strain in their pre-presbyopic days have been a significant impact on their current financial plight? This is debatable but I would think it could have certainly impacted their performance in school and ability to learn due to a visual problem. To me it just highlights the need to see an optometrist regularly. Undetected vision problems can certainly impact one’s ability to learn and just function. How many of these underprivileged people that RAM served could have avoided their situation altogether if they had proper eyecare at a young age?

These less fortunate individuals who rely on RAM, how many of them had convergence insufficiency, amblyopia, strabismus, or other binocular or visual processing issues that could have been treated with vision therapy?

Serving the communities of Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin, Santa Ana, Hungtington Beach, and Fountain Valley. Schedule a visit with Dr. Valerie Lam or Dr. Thanh Mai to learn more. Our optometry practice is located in Costa Mesa at 3151 Airway Ave. Suite J2, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.