Ingrid Marais

Posted by Mercy Ships staff on Oct 07, 2011 at 11:18 am

Blindness and vision impairment are negatively affecting the lives of many in South Africa. About 240,000 South Africans are blind due to cataracts. A staggering 80% of that blindness is treatable, curable or preventable – according to this year’s Mercy Vision South Africa Report. Sadly, the report indicates that a growing number of children have vision problems, but they have no access to treatment. To make the situation even worse, often children are taken out of school to care for their blind family members, leaving their education unfinished.

Mercy Ships Southern Africa is working with South Africa’s Eastern Cape Department of Health and their main contractor, the Fred Hollows Foundation, to prevent blindness in the Eastern Cape Province. Training local staff to better manage available resources and providing surgical training to local medical professionals are two of the most important steps in the process of building capacity to avoid blindness and develop a better method of eye care.

Ingrid Marais, an optometrist from South Africa, has completed a month with the Eye Team onboard the Africa Mercy, learning systems training to process patients more efficiently. She works at a small clinic in St. Johnsbury, Grahamtown, in the Eastern Cape Province – about an hour away from their nearest ophthalmologist. “So, it’s a bit of a mission to get to us,” she admitted. The clinic staff deals with every kind of eye problem, not just cataracts, which they must refer to a surgeon. The clinic has started a low vision program to help people at all levels of society, regardless of money. Ingrid does screenings in the field, oversees the two-week post- operative care, and has screened as many as 450 people at one screening.

Ingrid was near-sighted as a child. At eight years of age, she went to an optometrist for the first time. “I know how it feels to struggle,” she said.

On a school tour to the University of Johannesburg, she was given a choice of subjects to study – accounting or eye care. She chose eye care, and her interest has grown from there. She attended University in Bloemfontein at the University of the Free State in South Africa before working at the St. Johnsbury clinic.

“I’ve always wanted to go out and work in Africa,” she said. So, when asked if she’d like to come to a training program developed under the mentorship of ophthalmologist Dr. Glenn Strauss, she agreed right away. Though Dr. Strauss developed the program, Ingrid’s training was conducted by Dr. Woody Hopper and the Mercy Vision eye team.

“It’s been great, amazing! I’m sad to leave,” she grinned. “I’m surprised you’re so well- organized. Everyone knows what to do. In not too long, our system will be as smooth as the Mercy Ships one,” she declared.

Story by Elaine B. Winn
Edited by Nancy Predaina
Photos by Debra Bell

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