As a pediatric ophthalmologist with longstanding involvement in global education, Yasmin S. Bradfield has gone to great lengths to combat childhood vision loss. In fact, she recently traveled more than 5,000 miles from her Madison, Wisconsin-based practice at UW Health to Asunción, Paraguay. Bradfield, a professor with the UW-Madison Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, teamed up with leadership from Combat Blindness International and Fundación Visión, the two organizations responsible for establishing Paraguay’s first-ever pediatric vision screening program. The trip was an opportunity to teach and learn from one another while witnessing the screening program in action.
“I was impressed with the dedication, organization, and hospitality of the Fundación Visión team,” Bradfield said. “The vision screening team with the help of school teachers have screened over 14,000 children, providing glasses to over 600 students and even detected a child with retinoblastoma who is now receiving chemotherapy in Argentina. I am so grateful to have participated in this program.”
Dr. Bradfield presented a lecture to Fundación Visión’s residents on vision screening and amblyopia – permanent vision loss in a child’s eye. The trip also included outreach in rural areas and a meeting with the Ministry of Health (a fellow ophthalmologist) to discuss the importance of eye screening in schools.
“The impact of vision screening cannot be overstated,” Bradfield said. “It has the potential to improve a child’s performance in school and sports, provide better options for their future career, and provide good vision that can last a lifetime.”
