When Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina, it left devastation in its wake—shattered homes and uprooted lives, and the sense of a community left stranded in the wreckage. Amid the chaos, local optometrists, their teams and volunteers came together to light a path forward.
At the heart of this effort was the Changing Life Through Lenses program by the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, bolstered by the new Champions for Sight initiative. Vision Source administrator Haley Perry, OD, of Elite Eye Care had been wondering how she might be able to coordinate some kind of vision clinic for those affected when her Vision Source team reached out to EssilorLuxottica.
The group settled on hosting the event at the office Asheville Vision and Wellness, which has eight exam lanes to help maximize the initiative. In one day, 24 optometrists, 15 of them Vision Source members and staff from practices in the area provided free eye exams and eyeglasses to 154 patients.
“This was the largest natural disaster our area has seen,” says Lisa Greene, OD, of Asheville Vision and Wellness. “Forty percent of the trees in Buncombe County were lost. Roads were broken, bridges washed out, and even weeks later, some areas were still without potable water. This event gave us a way to serve when so many people were struggling.”
“GUILTITUDE”
Dr. Perry reflects on the shared mission: “We were safe during the storm, but so many weren’t. I felt an overwhelming ‘guiltitude’—gratitude for my family’s safety mixed with guilt for those who lost so much. This was how we could help, using our skills to give back.”
For Dr. Greene, the event was an opportunity to leverage her team’s experience with previous OneSight events. “We had the infrastructure, the lanes, and the determination.” Champions For Sight provided coffee, and a food truck parked outside supplied pastry to the morning’s visitors and a lunch to those who came later. “It didn’t matter where people came from—patients, staff, and volunteers felt cared for, whether they were receiving glasses or simply enjoying a hot meal.”
Vision Source President Amir Khoshnevis, OD, crossed the state from his Charlotte office to pitch in. “He was in the trenches with the rest of us,” says Dr. Perry. “He asked, ‘Where do you need me? Then he got right to work. That says a lot about leadership,” adds Dr. Greene. Vision Source Senior Director Staff Learning and Development Tami Franklin also pitched in for the day.
STORIES OF RESILIENCE
Lacey Wicks, optical manager for Asheville Vision and Wellness, still feels the weight of the stories she heard. “One woman broke down in tears after we extended her hospitalized uncle’s prescription. He’d been outside protecting his home during a landslide and witnessed his wife and children getting swept away.” Wicks can almost not tell the story without being overcome by the events. “Providing him with eyeglasses in such a moment of loss brought him—and us—tears of relief.”
At Dr. Perry’s practice, office manager Raven Bowes recalled a teenage girl who had never had an eye exam. “She was a -10D prescription and had gone through life without eyeglasses.” It wasn’t directly storm-related, but it underscored the need for these services in the community. “Her family left in disbelief, knowing her life had just changed.”
The community’s resilience was evident not only in the patients served but also in the volunteers who gave their time while navigating their own losses. “We all had our struggles,” says Wicks. “I had a tree crash through my roof. But coming together as a team and showing up for our community was a way to heal ourselves, too.”
Dr. Greene brings her therapy dog, Dolly, an English cream golden retriever, to provide additional solace to both staff and patients. “Dolly started coming in with me just six weeks before the hurricane hit,” says Dr. Greene. “People used to say, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ Now, she’s a source of comfort, standing beside people as they cry or simply being present in the exam rooms.”
A SHARED PURPOSE
The Champions for Sight event’s success relied heavily on local and national volunteers and organizations. Vendor support from CooperVision, Bausch + Lomb, Alcon and others was instrumental, Dr. Perry says.
“It didn’t matter which side of the political aisle you were on,” she adds. “Neighbors helped neighbors—cutting down trees, clearing roads, and showing up to give back. I was working at a food bank, and one of our doctors was shoveling mud out of a church. But for us as eye doctors, this event was our way of digging in and contributing to the rebuilding effort.”
In the weeks since the event, calls continue to pour in from patients who heard about the program. Many are still navigating the long road to recovery, living in tents or campers, but with renewed vision—both literal and figurative.
In a Facebook post after the event, Dr. Perry wrote this reflection: “Yesterday was a testament to the power of love and service. The helpers reminded me just how much good there is in the world.”
Photos courtesy of Dr. Perry and Champions for Sight
