NECO-ORBIS Volunteer Program

New England College of Optometry invites it's alumni, teaching faculty and clinical faculty to join the NECO Volunteer Faculty Team.

NECO optometrists are invited to participate in a volunteer program to share their knowledge and skills with international practitioners in developing health systems by providing on-site and online optometric education .

You can be involved by:

leading a week long hands-on training program in an international hospital setting, or
providing online mentoring, telehealth consultations and education.

These exciting training programs provide NECO faculty international teaching experience, an opportunity to collaborate with eye care practitioners from around the globe, and the opportunity to make a lasting impact on global health.

Join the NECO Volunteer Faculty Team

WHY VOLUNTEER?

To deliver optometric care in international settings
To provide mentorship to optometrists, technicians and nurses working in diverse health systems through hands-on training and telehealth consultations
To contribute to the quality of local practitioner training, by coaching senior doctors in skills transfer within their medical teams
To increase international awareness of the extensive role played by optometrists in primary healthcare settings
To further develop your clinical teaching skills with guided teaching tools and supported curriculum
To collaborate with eye health advocates, ophthalmologists, nurses and medical practitioners from around the world
To connect with a like-minded community creating sustainable systems aimed at improving the quality of eye care across the globe

A "MISSION" TRIP LIKE NO OTHER!

A critical factor to addressing global refractive blindness is high quality training in refractive care. By partnering with Orbis International, NECO is helping address the need to better integrate high quality refractive care into primary health care models.

WHAT DOES VOLUNTEERING FOR NECO AND ORBIS ENTAIL?

ON-SITE HANDS-ON TRAINING:

Hands-on global optometry training programs are held in a hospital setting and run for 5 days, Monday-Friday. A typical training week consists of morning lectures delivered by NECO Volunteer Faculty proceeded by faculty-led clinical workshops. Programs are designed to help trainees learn new techniques and work through challenging patient cases to improve the quality of optometric care they provide. In addition to accommodation, visas and travel being organized, lecture topics and trainee background is provided. NECO's coordinating team provides any resources required, including lecture templates, case studies, teaching tools and support to ensure training programs run smoothly for volunteers and participants.

ONLINE TELEHEALTH TRAINING:

NECO Volunteer Faculty have the opportunity to work with other world renowned clinicians via Orbis' educational telehealth portal, Cybersight. Volunteer Faculty have access to and provide live international webinars, live procedural demonstrations, telehealth mentoring and educational resources.

HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? VISIT OUR FAQ PAGE

WHERE WE ARE WORKING

In 2016, NECO optometrists joined forces with Orbis China to help local optometry practitioners in Shenyang meet the increasing rate of myopia throughout the country by providing orthokeratology training.

In 2017, NECO clinical faculty provided refractive, pediatric, contact lens and low vision training to local optometrists and technicians in Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, India and Zambia. Towards the end of 2017, NECO proudly presented our first 3 live webinars on the tele-health platform, Cybersight.

In 2018, NECO clinical faculty and alumni have been broadcast around the globe with 15 webinars. Topics have included all aspects of optometry practice and were shared with over 1045 international practitioners listening live, later achieving over 7,800 downloads and replays. Additionally, our volunteer faculty group have been working with teams in China to provide refractive training on low vision.

CHECK OUT OUR TRIPS SO FAR!

WHO ARE ORBIS?

Orbis International is a mobile NGO helping build sustainable eye care services by connecting and sharing knowledge among healthcare practitioners, health ministries and advocates across the globe. Through their hospital-based and Flying Eye Hospital programs, Orbis International help strengthen the skills of over 40,000 eye care practitioners each year and have built the resources necessary to deliver quality ocular surgical care in 92 countries since 1982. Furthermore, the Orbis telehealth and clinical education portal, Cybersight, ensures training and collaboration continues beyond hands-on training programs, providing online support for partner hospitals, opportunities to watch live surgeries, access to clinical resources and participation in live webinars from world renowned clinicians on a range of ocular health related topics.

In an effort to continue meeting the eye health needs of communities, Orbis International partnered with New England College of Optometry to expand Orbis' current efforts to include low vision, pediatric, contact lens and refractive training. This partnership will allow Orbis International and New England College of Optometry to help address the challenge of refractive blindness, currently responsible for 49% of the world's visual impairment.

Want to get involved?

Join the NECO Volunteer Faculty Team

Image: by Omega