Orbis International

It takes a village to raise a Flying Eye Hospital! These are just some of the wonderful people at ComAv, LLC and FedEx who helped with maintenance work before our current sight-saving project in Mongolia. Jody (left in pic # 2) is a Senior VP at ComAv and deserves a special shout out. Darren (second from the right in pic # 3) worked on the original modification and launch of our MD10 aircraft back in 2016. We’d like to say another big thank you for all your support getting this plane in the air!

Watch Part 2 of Bulgan’s homecoming story as she gives an update on our current Flying Eye Hospital project in Mongolia and shares her deep connection with the Orbis community. A big thank you to everyone who makes work like this possible, and to Bulgan O. for being such an amazing eye care hero.

Improving gender equity in eye care! Women Leaders in Eye Health is hosting "Gender Considerations for working in Global Eye Health" at the Global Ophthalmology Summit in Portland, Oregon, Saturday, August 10, 7:00 – 7:40 am PDT. Learn from experts in the field and network with like-minded individuals who are passionate about making a difference. Moderated by Dr. Christy Nelson, this event is perfect for anyone who is looking to expand their knowledge and skills in this important area. A big thank you to the Orbis community for working towards a more fair and equitable world. Learn more about the event or sign up in the link below... https://lnkd.in/e5vfjnYF

When you live abroad, going home is already special, but it’s not every day that you get to make such a journey on the Flying Eye Hospital. Bulgan O. is a former Orbis child patient from Mongolia who now lives in Toronto, where she serves on the Orbis Canada Board. Watch her take you behind the scenes of this one-of-a-kind homecoming as she prepared to join our Flying Eye Hospital project in Ulaanbaatar.

Here are some more photos of the Flying Eye Hospital touching down in stormy conditions yesterday, Thursday, August 1. We would like to say a huge thank you to our corporate sponsors the Alcon Foundation, FedEx and OMEGA SA—and our project partner, the Mongolian Ministry of Health. Keep an eye out for more updates coming soon.

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital has just landed in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for a three-week ophthalmic training project. The plane touched down in stormy conditions, with Captain Cyndhi Berwyn calling it “one of the toughest approaches” in her long career. Ulaanbaatar is notorious for its high altitude and strong winds, but the team also faced storms, turbulence, and low visibility as they made their descent. Captain Berwyn was given up-to-the-minute information by the Orbis flight team and was able to guide the plane without issue. While the weather might seem ominous, a former Orbis patient from Mongolia and current Orbis Canada Board Member, Bulgan Orgilsaikhan, who was on board the aircraft as it landed, says there’s an expression in Mongolian that goes, “The destined person comes with the thunderstorm.” A sign of good things to come! This three-week training project will mark the Flying Eye Hospital’s ninth visit to Mongolia, with the first taking place in 1989 and most recent in 2018. Stay tuned for more updates as they come in.

As we celebrate the official launch of our diabetic retinopathy screening project in Vietnam, we’d like to say a huge thank you to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for supporting AI-led screenings to improve diabetic eye care. Orbis was selected as a winner of the 2023 AWS IMAGINE Grant, awarded to nonprofits using tech to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. Early detection and intervention are key to saving sight for millions of people with diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults. But efforts are often hampered by a shortage of trained staff and limited access to eye services for patients in hard-to-reach communities. This is where AI screenings can bridge that gap. Thanks to the generous AWS grant, we’re working with Amazon’s cloud computing arm to boost access to AI-assisted eye screenings powered by our bespoke tool, Orbis Cybersight AI. Cybersight AI can detect diabetic retinopathy in seconds, eliminating the long wait for screening results that rely on human graders, and improving timely referral and access to follow-up care.

Orbis Cybersight hits 100,000 users! Orbis’s telemedicine and e-learning platform, which marked its 20th anniversary last year, saw a surge in its userbase at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic from 20,000 in February 2020 to 100,000 as of July 2024. Continued growth following the pandemic shows the demand for virtual learning and mentorship in eye care around the world is just as high as ever. We’d like to say a huge thank you to the Orbis community for helping grow Cybersight into the platform it is today. From our Volunteer Faculty who give up their free time to deliver online webinars and consult on complex cases, to the dedicated eye care professionals around the world who use it to improve the quality of the care they provide, and of course our wonderful supporters – together we’re helping change the way the world sees.

Check out these photos from the recent Standing Strong, Sharing Space and Shaping Solutions event held by Women Leaders in Eye Health and the African Ophthalmology Council (AOC) in Kigali, Rwanda. The one hour breakfast session, moderated by our Medical Advisor Dr. Ciku Mathenge, included a panel of motivating speakers and discussions to find solutions to challenges for women in eye health. We want to thank everyone in the Orbis community who's helping promote gender equity in eye care, especially our partners Seva Foundation and Women in Ophthalmology.

Want to work for a global organization with an impactful mission? We are currently looking for an Accounts Payable Coordinator to join our finance team! This is a fully remote role in the US with access to our office in NYC. Click below to learn more about this opportunity: https://lnkd.in/dZQ_RPyA