Work must become a practice of self – evolution. It is not about buildings, equipment, money or material
things, but a matter of consciousness.
- Dr.G.Venkataswamy, Founder, Aravind Eye Care System
| Aravind Eye Foundation Board |
| President |
| Dr. Christine Melton |
| Treasurer & Secretary |
| Ms. Pavithra Mehta |
| Members |
| Dr.S. Aravind |
| Lady Neelam Feachem |
| Mr. Jerry G. Jones |
| Ms. Meg Lueker |
| Mr. Thulasiraj Ravilla |
| Dr.R.D. Ravindran |
| Dr. Alan Robin |
| Mr.Sriram Viswanathan |
| Advisory Board |
| Mr. Jose Barquin |
| Dr. Morton Goldberg |
| Mr. David Green |
| Ms. Santha Jeyabalan |
| Prof. Fred Munson |
| Mr.D. Nagarajan |
| Dr.P. Namperumalsamy |
| Prof. Kasturi Rangan |
Dr. Bruce Spivey
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| Executive Director |
| Ms. Donna Campbell |
Make a
Difference
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Dear Friends,
Aravind Eye Care System passed the 3.3 million mark for patients and delivered 380,000 surgical procedures this past year. No wonder
Aravind is the largest eye care provider in the world!
But, numbers are deceiving. They don’t capture the day-to-day kindness of a nurse with an elderly patti (grandmother), who is
worried about her upcoming cataract surgery. They don’t describe the courage of a child undergoing chemotherapy for retinoblastoma
(eye cancer). They don’t express a father’s joy at hearing that his daughter’s cancer is gone.
And, numbers don’t reveal the generosity of our friends. Your support, in every form,is critical to Dr. V’s mission of eliminating needless blindness. Thank you.
Warmest regards,
The Board of Aravind Eye Foundation
P.S. We are very happy to announce that a long-time friend of Aravind has given a matching grant for Aravind’s work with
children who have retinoblastoma. We hope you can help.
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Help
Aravind Answer the Challenge to Cure Retinoblastoma!
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 Thanks to the incredible generosity
of a long-time Aravind friend and supporter, we have a received a challenge grant for our work with children who have retinoblastoma.
Retinoblastoma is a blinding, often fatal, eye cancer that affects children under the age of five. In the United States, retinoblastoma is 90% curable – in India and the rest of the
developing world, it is 90% fatal. The difference lies in early diagnosis and treatment. Genetics play a big role in who gets
retinoblastoma and who doesn’t. Aravind works with leading genetics labs around the world to test families who might have the gene.
Each test costs $1500 – to test a family of four is $6,000. That’s well beyond the budget of most Indian families.
Now, Aravind is building its own lab to offer affordable testing to our patients and hospitals throughout the developing world. The
cost per test will be $200. To date, Aravind has raised $155,000 from the Allene Reuss Memorial Trust and the Sohum Foundation. We
need to raise $80,000 by December 31 to answer the challenge – and buy the equipment to complete the lab.
Please help us answer the challenge to cure retinoblastoma.
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Spectacles for Scholars at Aravind Eye Hospital Gets Straight A’s!
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 Imagine if you could not see the
blackboard when your teacher is writing a mathematical formula. Or, what if the words in your history book appeared blurred and meaningless?
Education is the ticket out of the circle of poverty, and poor vision severely impairs a child’s ability to learn.
Aravind provides training for school teachers and screening free of charge, but donations provide spectacles for children identified with
vision problems. In 2014, Aravind will screen 370,000 students and provide 13,000 spectacles to school children in South India. Aravind
is working with most government schools in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry and plans to grow this program to provide 30,000 free spectacles every year.
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Rural Vision Center Program Gathers Momentum
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 We are honored and grateful to
announce a gift from entrepreneur Subroto Bagchi (founder of the IT firm Mindtree) to develop several new rural vision centers over the
next two years. This generous gift brings Aravind Eye Care System ever closer to the vision of universal eye care for southern India.
Aravind pioneered the vision center concept to provide eye care to people most in need. Nearly 70% of India’s population lives in rural
areas, with little access to eye care. Patients might travel up to 250 miles to see a doctor, and lose a day’s wages to get there and
are dependent on the relatives to take them. Rural vision centers offer eye exams, fit eye glasses, and treat minor ailments based on
real time consultations offered by Aravind doctors via a web cam and Internet connectivity. Patients needing additional care are referred
to the nearest Aravind Eye Hospital.
Aravind plans to build 130 rural vision centers in southern India by 2020. We are grateful to our donors – Seva Foundation, Standard
Chartered Bank, Lavelle Fund for the Blind, Liane Ginsberg Trust, Proof Eyewear, and the Kelly sisters – who have helped build more 49
vision centers to date.
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Dr. Gullapalli N Rao, founder of LV Prasad Vision
Institute, receives the Dr. G. Venkataswamy Oration Award.
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As part of the annual “October Summit”,
commemorating the birth of Dr. V, Aravind Eye Care System awarded
the Dr. G. Venkataswamy Oration Award to Dr. Gullapalli N Rao,
founder and chair of the world-renowned L.V. Prasad Eye Institute
in Hyderabad. Read More
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