Celebrating nurses around the world: Meet Hau

This is Hau, she is the only ophthalmic nurse at Phong Tho District Health Center in the remote Lai Chau province, Vietnam, where 85% of the population are ethnic minorities and 70% live in extreme poverty.

The province is nestled in the mountainous northwest of the country bordering China where access to medical care is scarce. Hau single-handedly provides vision screenings and performs eye procedures while covering a host of other administrative and medical tasks at the center.

Thanks to Orbis supporters like you and our generous partner XOVA, the 35-year-old is one of 220 health workers in the province who received ophthalmic training through this project.

Hau, who juggled work and family responsibilities while taking the course says: “I’m happy that I am now confident to use a retinoscope to check eyesight for my patients to detect eye health problems, especially refractive errors.”

Thanks to this nurse’s hard work and dedication her community can now access quality eye care.

However, there is another problem that also needs addressing. Poor awareness of eye health in the community means that people often don’t know about the clinic or don’t attend until the problem is severe. But thanks to our wonderful supporters, education activities were carried out to increase public awareness of eye care and provide information on where and how to access services.

A big thank you to nurse Hau for her dedication and commitment to eye care, and for building brighter futures for the Lai Chau community.