ANNUAL REPORT 2017

ANNUAL
REPORT

2017



YEAR IN
REVIEW

MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR AND CEO........................................................................
WHAT YOU MADE POSSIBLE ........................................................................................................
SAVING SIGHT, CHANGING LIVES ............................................................................................... 6
DELIVERING EYE CARE TRAINING AROUND THE WORLD ..............................................
PREVENTING AVOIDABLE BLINDNESS ...................................................................................
SERVING COMMUNITES IN REMOTE AREAS .........................................................................
THE FLYING EYE HOSPITAL .........................................................................................................
ORBIS VOLUNTEER FACULTY ....................................................................................................
FUNDRAISING EVENTS .................................................................................................................. 6
FINANCE REPORT ............................................................................................................................
GLOBAL PARTNERS .......................................................................................................................
LEADERSHIP ......................................................................................................................................



MESSAGE FROM THE
BOARD CHAIR AND CEO

Dear Friends,

We are excited to share with you some of the organization’s achievements and highlights
from this past year. With the incredible support of our donors, partners and volunteers in
2017, Orbis Canada once again made a strong contribution to the global e ort to end
avoidable blindness.

For most of us living in Canada, access to quality eye care is at our nger tips should we need
it. A visit to the optometrist to have our eyes checked, a pair of prescription glasses to
improve our sight, or even laser eye surgery to correct a more serious vision problem.
However, this is simply not the reality for hundreds of millions of people living in
resource-poor countries around the world, where avoidable blindness and visual impairment
remains a critical issue. Countries where access to skilled eye doctors, quality hospitals, or
even basic medical care is often limited or entirely non-existent.

Thankfully, for the past years, Obis has been working tirelessly to change this reality. In

, we continued to make great strides in the ght to eliminate avoidable blindness. We

conducted more than , trainings for doctors, nurses and other frontline eye health

workers who now not only have the skills and expertise to treat their own people, but also the

knowledge to train countless other eye health professionals in their communities. We also

performed close to , eye surgeries and laser treatments, as well as over . million

additional medical and optical treatments on board our Flying Eye Hospital or through our

long-term country projects. As well, we screened more than ve million children and adults –

an increase of % from – to identify and treat conditions that could eventually lead to

long-term visual impairment or even blindness.

As we re ect on this past year, we are extremely proud of our achievements, and also

incredibly grateful for the support of our generous donors who made it all possible. We

encourage you to read on to learn more about the tremendous impact we had in , and to

hear the incredible stories of those whose lives we were able to change for the better. As we

look ahead to , we are even more inspired by work we will continue to do to ght

avoidable blindness, restore vision and help ensure no one needlessly loses their sight to a

preventable, treatable disease.

Peter Allen, FCPA, FCA, FRAeS Lisa Mckeen,
Chairman, Orbis Canada CEO, Orbis Canada
Treasurer, Orbis International

WHAT YOU

2017MADE POSSIBLE IN

66 PROJECTS, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS
PROJECTS UNDERWAY
VOLUNTEER FACULTY FROM

TRAININGS INCREASE
COMPLETED INCREASE
BY DOCTORS

INCREASE TRAININGS COMPLETED BY NURSES
AND OTHER EYE CARE PROFESSIONALS

EYE SCREENINGS AND INCREASE
EXAMINATIONS CONDUCTED

INCREASE

SURGERIES AND LASER
TREATMENTS PERFORMED

INCREASE

MEDICAL AND OPTICAL
TREATMENTS PERFORMED

SAVING SIGHT
CHANGING LIVES

, SURGERIES AND
LASER TREATMENTS PERFORMED.

Just think what this means to these , people – people who have been given
back their vision after months, years or even decades of darkness. People whose
futures are now clearer, whose prospects are now brighter – people whose lives
have been changed forever.
One of these , people who can now see again is Bahida, a -year-old high
school teacher from Yaoundé, Cameroon. When Bahida was years old, she
accidentally poked herself in the eye with a compass, leaving her partially blind for
years. Over time, her damaged eye developed a cataract and also began turning
outward.

6

In October , Bahida was selected as a valuable teaching case and was invited for

treatment on board the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital. With local doctors and other eye

care professionals looking on, Orbis Volunteer Faculty member, Dr. Ruchi Goel, expertly

removed Bahida’s cataract and surgically repaired her damaged eye.

The following day at her post-operative exam at Yaoundé Central Hospital, Bahida was
absolutely overjoyed. She could once again see colors and small details, and her
depth-perception had returned. Her vision was clear, her self-con dence was back, and
her life was transformed.

DELIVERING EYE CARE
TRAINING AROUND
THE WORLD

6 , 8 TRAININGS COMPLETED BY DOCTORS AND OTHER MEDICAL
PROFESSIONALS.

Teaching and training are at the heart of everything we do. Across di erent
countries last year, more than , trainings were completed by doctors, nurses
and other critical front-line health workers, who now have the knowledge, skills
and expertise to provide high-quality eye care to millions of people in their
communities.

One of those doctors is Dr. Ted Afetane. With training, mentorship and support
from Orbis, Dr. Afetane became Cameroon’s rst paediatric ophthalmologist. In

, Dr. Afetane was given the opportunity to further advance his skills, learning
from Orbis’s expert Volunteer Faculty aboard the Flying Eye Hospital. Dr. Afetane
told us the training he has received from Orbis has been invaluable in helping him
treat the many children in his country who desperately need his help.

Treating a child requires specialized techniques that are di erent than those used
to treat an adult. Thanks to Orbis, Dr. Afetane and his colleagues were given the
unique opportunity to learn from some of the world’s best, and develop the skills
and expertise required to treat their most vulnerable patients.

“I feel both
proud and privileged

to be counted
as an Orbis-trained

paediatric
ophthalmologist”

Dr. Ted Afetane

‘GIVE SOMEONE A FISH, AND THEY CAN EAT FOR A DAY;
TEACH SOMEONE TO FISH, AND THEY CAN EAT FOR A LIFETIME’

PREVENTING
AVOIDABLE BLINDNESS

, , 8 EYE SCREENINGS AND EXAMINATIONS CONDUCTED.

Screening is the rst line of defense.
It is the most e cient and cost -
e ective way to identify risks or
conditions that could lead to vision
problems, long-term visual
impairment, or in many cases, vision
loss.

Ending avoidable blindness is as much
about prevention as it is about
treatment. And that is exactly what
screening does – it enables
Orbis-trained eye care professionals
to identify potential conditions or eye
problems and provide treatment
before it is too late.

A child with a visual impairment must
receive treatment before their 8th
birthday, or a full recovery becomes
impossible.

By focusing on screenings, eye exams
and early intervention, we can have a
much greater impact and reduce the
need for costly treatment down the
road.

Screening is the
single most

e ective tool
in helping

to eliminate
avoidable blindness.

SERVING COMMUNITIES IN
REMOTE AREAS

Cybersight, our award-winning online platform, enables our world-renowned
Volunteer Faculty to teach, mentor and support eye care teams in remote,
otherwise inaccessible areas around the world.

In alone, we connected our expert volunteers with doctors from across the
globe to provide consultation on , complex patient cases. We delivered live,
online training sessions with , unique participants from di erent countries,
and gained , new Cybersight community members.

We also completed our rst-ever live surgical mentorship through Cybersight in
which a cataract surgery on a -year-old girl in Peru was observed and mentored in
real time by an Orbis Volunteer Faculty member in Indianapolis.

“The Cybersight team and mentors have played a major
part in my professional development as an

ophthalmologist. Due to the lack of up-to-date
knowledge in the Mongolian ophthalmology sector, I rely
heavily on the training and mentorship from Cybersight.

Because of Cybersight, I can learn every day, non-stop
from excellent mentors. ”

Dr. Ijilmurun
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

FLYING EYE HOSPITAL

For more than three-and-a-half decades, the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital has been a
call to action for better eye care around the world – a catalyst to raise awareness,
create change and drive global e orts to end avoidable blindness.

In , our state-of-the-art surgical and teaching hospital continued to travel the
globe, enabling our world-leading Volunteer Faculty to teach, train and empower
local eye care professionals with the skills and expertise they need to save sight in
their own communities.

Using our Cybersight telemedicine platform, we expanded our reach even further by
broadcasting live lectures and surgeries from every Flying Eye Hospital program –
reaching an average of locations in countries.

Flying Eye Hospital projects

trainings completed by doctors,
nurses, anesthetists and other
eye health professionals

eye screenings and
examinations conducted

eye surgeries performed

Volunteer Faculty donated
their time and expertise

ORBIS VOLUNTEER FACULTY

CANADIAN DOCTORS, NURSES, ANESTHETISTS

AND ENGINEERS VOLUNTEERED ON ORBIS

PROJECTS IN .

Our world-renowned Volunteer Faculty are vital to maintaining Canada’s long-
standing contribution to saving sight across the globe. The heartbeat of our
training programs around the world, these leading experts in eye health share their
knowledge, skills and techniques with eye care teams in developing countries so
they can prevent and treat blindness in their own communities for generations to
come.

Dr. Stephanie Low
Uganda, February

Dr. Jennifer Gao
Vietnam, May

Dr. Je rey Hurwitz
Guyana, July

Dr. David Plemel Dr. Brian Leonard
Cameroon, October Vietnam, May

Dr. Lily Simoneau
Cameroon, October

Dr. Maya Tong Dr. Leo de Kryger
Cameroon, October Bolivia, October
Guyana, October
Dr. Jennifer Liao
India, December Dr. Yasser Khan
Cameroon, October
Monelle Ross
Nurse on board the
Flying Eye Hospital

Alice Lee Dr. Stephen Brodovsky
Vietnam, May Zambia, October

Dr. Carlos Solarte
Cameroon, October

Dr. Karim Danji Dr. Matthew Bujak
Malawi, August Uganda, February

Dr. Peter Kertes
Bangladesh, November

Dr. Asim Ali and Dr. Carla Blackburn
Dr. Crystal Cheung Cameroon, October

Vietnam, May

FUNDRAISING EVENTS

PLANE PULL
FOR SIGHT

What started as a small event nearly a decade
ago is now Orbis Canada’s signature
fundraising event, with thousands of
Canadians all pulling together to support
Orbis in the ght to end avoidable blindness
and restore vision for millions of people
around the world.

In , Plane Pull for Sight expanded to three
cities with events taking place in Toronto,
Vancouver and now Calgary. This fun, unique
and family-friendly team-building event saw
teams of up to people – friends, family,
colleagues and coworkers – compete to pull a

-ton FedEx cargo plane along a ft
course. Teams were required to fundraise a
minimum of $ , for the opportunity to
take part in this ultimate tug-of-war challenge.

With the incredible support of teams, more
than 3,100 participants, spectators and
volunteers, as well as thousands of donors,
this year’s Plane Pull for Sight raised $ , .
This brought our fundraising total to nearly $
million since the event rst launched almost
ten years ago.

PLANE PULL
FOR SIGHT

National Event Sponsor

Leading the way once again in was the

event’s National Sponsor, FedEx Express

Canada, who not only donated the use of its

planes and facilities for the pull, but also

brought out hundreds of FedEx team

members and volunteers to participate.

Along with being the National Sponsor of
Plane Pull for Sight, FedEx is a global
supporter of Orbis and the leading aviation
sponsor of the Flying Eye Hospital. In its
more than -year relationship with Orbis,
FedEx has funded dozens of Flying Eye
Hospital programs, provided critically
important aircraft maintenance, shipped
vital supplies and equipment all over the
world, and its pilots volunteer to y the
Flying Eye Hospital to its program
destinations.

We are incredibly grateful to FedEx Express
Canada, and everyone who pulled, donated,
volunteered, cheered and supported this
year's Plane Pull for Sight.

FINANCE REPORT

IN
SUPPORTERS GENEROUSLY

GAVE OVER

.M

TO ORBIS
INTERNATIONAL

HOW ORBIS MAXIMIZES YOUR GENEROSITY TO RESTORE VISION

At Orbis, we work hard to ensure your gifts are used as e ectively as possible.
That’s why more than cents of every dollar you donate goes directly to
increasing quality eye care and saving vision in the countries where we work.

. went directly towards our work
to prevent avoidable blindness

. went towards raising funds
to support our mission

. went towards ensuring our
systems and service delivery
are worthy of your donations

“In , supporters generously gave over . M to Orbis REVENUE AND
SUPPORT
International. Your support allowed Orbis International
.M
(excluding a liates) to put . M towards Program, . M
EXPENSES
towards Fundraising, and . M towards Management / .M

General expenses. Overall, the organization nished EXCESS
(DEFICIT)
with a net increase in assets of . M and total net assets of
.M
. M. Orbis entered nancially well-positioned to
NET ASSETS
support the growth of its global operations and to best serve .M

its goal of transforming lives through the prevention and

treatment of blindness.”

Peter Allen, FCPA, FCA, FRAeS
Chairman, Orbis Canada
Treasurer, Orbis International

GLOBAL PARTNERS

We are incredibly grateful to our corporate partners for their amazing support.
Their contributions range from major multi-year cash grants to critically needed
gifts-in-kind. Everyone listed on this page shares our long-term commitment to
ending avoidable blindness throughout the world.

With special recognition to The Donner Canadian Foundation for their ongoing
support of the National Childhood Blindness Project in Bangladesh. Through their
generous contributions, pediatric eye care services across the country have been
signi cantly strengthened, and the magnitude of avoidable childhood blindness
reduced. Sustainable programs are being built to ensure a healthier future for all
the children of Bangladesh.

LEADERSHIP

Chair

Peter Allen, FCPA, FCA, FRAeS

k

Vice-Chair

Dr. Simon P. Holland, MD, FRCSC, FRCOph

Secretary

Winston K. Fogarty, B.A., J.D., LL.M.

Director

Richard Doherty

Director

Dr. Sherif El-Defrawy, MD, PhD, FRCSC

Director

The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy

Director

Douglas E. Turnbull

Ex-O cio Director

John ‘Bob’ Ranck

Director Emeritus

Dr. Brian Leonard, MD

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