YWAM Ships Kona’s Medical Procurement team was looking for a handheld autorefractor for their upcoming PNG (Papua New Guinea) outreaches. The m/v YWAM Liberty has 2 autorefractors on board but they’re large in size and aren’t meant to be moved.
A handheld autorefractor is ideal for all the mobile clinics that YWAM Ships Kona (also known as Port YWAM) does. It’s light, small and can be picked up by hand. After it’s held up to the patient’s eye, it can determine exactly what kind of prescription they’ll need.
Once that’s completed, the medical team will then be able to choose the correct prescription glasses. This will allow the volunteers to distribute the glasses with more accuracy.
YWAM Ships Kona’s Procurement (Fleet Support) team had several quotes for purchasing an autorefractor, ranging from $1,500 – $4,000.
One of the ways YWAM Ships Kona is supported is when people gift in-kind equipment, such as this autorefractor. It saves Port YWAM thousands of dollars of cash purchases.
A volunteer with YWAM Ships Kona, reached out to International Aid, Inc.
International Aid Inc. is a Christian relief ministry that seeks to tangibly demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to those who are suffering. They responded back with, ‘Hey I heard you guys were looking for an autorefractor. Is this what you need? We have it for $500.’
With that being such a great deal, Claudia, YWAM Ships Kona’s Medical Coordinator, emailed the organization saying, “Yes. We want it!” Even though Port YWAM didn’t have all the funds for the equipment, Claudia accepted it while they were working on getting the money. She believed in faith that the funds would come in.
Another aspect to the story
Two recent volunteers were spreading the word about their upcoming trip to PNG; how they were going to be living and working onboard the m/v YWAM Liberty as well as helping out where there was a need.
One of their friends emailed Claudia about wanting to make a donation. After a thorough explanation about how to donate, this lady made a contribution for the exact amount needed!
Her donation not only covered the cost of the autorefractor, but an autoclave, which Port YWAM was also wanting, as well as shipping for both instruments.
The mobile autorefractor 
The mobile autoclave
The autoclave is for sterilizing equipment; it’s portable, and will allow the medical team to clean the surgical instruments for cataract surgeries in about 6-8 minutes. This will increase the amount of surgeries the medical team is able to complete in one day.
“Both the autorefractor and autoclave will provide a better, faster quality of [service] for the elderly, who are already in hard environments. It will allow our teams to do more, quicker surgeries.
Right now in Mt. Hagen, there’s a waiting a list of 150 – 200 patients because there’s no supplies available. We’re bringing the equipment and the supplies to get through that list.” – Claudia Choy, Medical Coordinator with YWAM Ships Kona
Thank you to International Aid, the medical team, donors and all the volunteers (full-time and part-time) for joining together to get these items to the people of Papua New Guinea.
YWAM Ships Kona
http://www.internationalaid.org/
Click here to see how you can get involved.
Interested in knowing more? Contact us. We’d love to chat!
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