THE Great Shape! Inc iCare clinic will be providing eye care for residents from several Westmoreland communities from September 26 to 30.

The clinic will take place at the Triumphant Hope Apostolic Ministries Church in Belmont, Westmoreland, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, and up to 1:00 pm on Friday, September 30.

Made possible through a partnership with the Sandals Foundation, the clinic is supported by 25 eye care doctors, professionals and support staff from the US and Canada. It will offer residents access to free eye testing, eye surgery referrals, medication, free pairs of prescriptive, reading and sun glasses.

Nurses at the clinic will also conduct hypertension and diabetes screening.

“We are pleased to be back serving the people of Jamaica. We look forward to conducting two life-changing weeks of eye clinics in Westmoreland now and St James later in the year,” says Steven Stern, director for the Great Shape!’s iCare programme.

Glasses and supplies used at the clinic have been donated through Great Shape! Inc, Quest Vision Care Speciality Lab, Essilor Vision Foundation, Eye Love Cares Foundation, Americares, Hispaniola Cares, National Vision, and Restoring Vision. Logistic support, accommodation, transportation and daily volunteer meals are provided by the Sandals Foundation, through Sandals South Coast and Sandals Montego Bay resorts.

“The annual dental and eye care programmes for years have served as a key service for so many families across the island,” said Heidi Clarke, executive director at Sandals Foundation. “The last two and half years have demonstrated just how important taking small steps every day can help us maintain healthy lives. We are very happy that we have been able to resume the Great Shape! Inc clinics and continue to help our island’s families resume normalcy.”

Dental teams from the Great Shape! Inc’s 1,000 Smiles programme, meanwhile, continue to serve scores of adults and children each day with clinics operating in the regions of Negril, South Coast, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and St Mary.

The volunteer missions are made possible with Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts providing accommodations and the charitable arm, the Sandals Foundation, spearheading logistics and offsetting the costs for transportation, as well as food and beverage for the clinics.