The CooperVision Adopt-a-Patient® Program provides optometry students an additional opportunity for a “hands on” fitting experience that would otherwise have been challenging due to a patient’s financial situation. CooperVision® will provide selected patients in need a one-year supply of contact lenses upon completion of the fitting process at the school’s clinic or satellite clinics. Adopt-A-Patient® is intended to be a positive contact lens fitting experience for optometry students during their clinical contact lens internship while serving under-privileged patients. Here, one student shares her experience.
My name is Roxanne Gurrola, a 4th-year optometry student at Western University of Health Sciences. I had the pleasure of fitting patient "N.V." with Biofinity® toric contact lenses made available through the Adopt-A-Patient program. N.V. is a 12-year-old male diagnosed with amblyopia of the left eye. N.V. has a negligible amount of refractive error in his right eye, thus, he will be wearing the lens in his left eye only. He is extremely happy with this method, as he prefers not to wear glasses. Both he and his mother were educated on lens replacement schedules, wearing time and the importance of good hygiene needed. He had never worn contact lenses before but was very excited that this was a treatment option and thus was motivated to learn more. His mother was very involved and was excited for this treatment option as well. They showed up on time to each appointment and asked many questions to ensure they were setting themselves up for success.
Upon initial insertion of the contact lens into his left eye, he blinked a few times and said, “it’s very comfortable, I can hardly feel it.” When checking his VAs through the contact lens, he gave very confident responses, his vision in that eye improved from 20/100 to 20/40. His mom was excited to see the huge improvement. During the application and removal training, both N.V. and his mother asked questions and observed carefully. N.V. followed instructions well and quickly learned how to insert and remove the contact lens properly. His success with contact lenses opens the potential for additional treatments of his amblyopia and binocular vision with vision therapy. Both N.V. and his mother thanked my attending, Dr. Tassinari, and me so much for our help. Seeing his confidence and excitement was very gratifying to witness.
Thank you, CooperVision, for allowing us the opportunity to help a patient using your amazing products in the Adopt-A-Patient program.