FPD and the Barraquer Foundation joined forces in a medical mission that attended 800 students on visual health issues. The alliance started at the school that accompanies the Pies Descalzos Foundation in Cartagena.

The event, which was attended by 11 professionals, took place in Cartagena. For a week, 11 professionals traveled from Barcelona to check a total of 880 students of the Lomas del Peyé school in Cartagena de Indias. During the various days of ophthalmological and optometric check-ups, possible eye pathologies were detected in 3 patients and 160 prescription glasses were delivered.

The collaboration of the Barraquer Foundation with the Pies Descalzos Foundation will allow the children who have been detected with possible ocular pathologies to be transferred to Barcelona to receive the ophthalmological treatment they require at the Barraquer Ophthalmology Center. In addition, thanks to the agreement that the Barraquer Foundation has with General Optica, users who need it will also receive prescription glasses to improve their vision and facilitate their daily lives.

The director of the Barraquer Foundation, Francesc Ballbé, emphasizes that “The alliance with the Pies Descalzos Foundation means a very important improvement in the quality of life of the children we have attended to in Colombia since the treatment of the possible ocular pathologies that have been detected will allow them to take care of their visual health, even if they do not have the resources”.

For his part, Dr. Javier Elizalde, a specialist at the Barraquer Ophthalmology Center and leader of the medical mission, values the experience very positive and considers that “this type of action allows, in addition to improving the vision of many children, to teach them to take care of their visual health with simple habits and exercises”.

Our executive director, Patricia Sierra, said that these initiatives are essential to contribute to the health and well-being of children. “The workshops made it possible to identify visual problems in the student population served to minimize their risks and prevent them from becoming a factor that affects school performance.”

The visual health day was a joint effort between the two foundations to contribute to and value the visual health of students and promote a preventive culture of care in the community.