This podcast was produced in partnership with Essilor.

 “I went to medical school because I liked biology and I wanted to help people,” shares Dr. Sergul Erzurum on how she first became interested in pursuing ophthalmology. She spent a summer during medical school in an ophthalmology rotation and she fell in love with the passion of the ophthalmologist she was studying under and knew the career was her calling. She now passes that passion for ophthalmology forward, mentoring medical students to encourage them to pursue ophthalmology as well.  “What I love about ophthalmology is that I could be a family doctor.” The relationships she builds with patients and their families inspire her every day. 

Dr. Erzurum is dedicated to giving back, not just by mentoring others to join her profession, but in providing the gift of sight to her larger community. In 2017 she teamed up with a friend to found Sight for All United. The idea was born out of her experience with patients being denied access to healthcare due to the gap in uninsured and underinsured coverage and fees. Patients were unable to afford medical care due to out of pocket expense or high deductibles, and she felt that as a healthcare provider she needed to help close that gap.

Sight for All United is a team of 43 eyecare volunteers in her Ohio community, including optometrists and opticians. Working with the larger community is essential to their success and reach. One of the first major projects Sight for All United took on was when they were called by an inner-city school nurse.  The nurse asked them to provide eye exams to students that had failed vision screenings at school but had never gotten an exam to solve the issues revealed by the screenings. In that school, 95 kids needed exams, and of those children 85 had serious medical problems that required glasses, patching, or therapy. 

The impact Sight for All United has made on the Youngstown, Ohio community has been astounding. In 2018 they screened all students in grade K-4 in the local school system – a total of 2,500 children. Of those, 500 failed the vision screenings and Sight for All United was called upon to provide eyeglasses, patching therapy, or surgery when necessary. With the volume of kids that they were caring for, partnering with the larger community was imperative. They worked alongside the local United Way to bring in volunteers to help with vision screenings, and they partnered with Essilor Vision Foundation to provide 2 pairs of glasses for every child (one for school and one for at home). 

As an honor for being recognized as one of Essilor’s Difference Makers, Dr. Erzurum joined other volunteers and honorees for Essilor’s #DifferenceMakers Mission Trip earlier this year.  They spent two days in Singapore where they visited Essilor Vision Foundation’s headquarters to learn how the organization is developing vision care in global communities of need. They are working closely with underserved areas by teaching local providers the skills needed to provide eyecare and leaving behind the tools necessary to maintain a sustainable eyecare clinic. Dr. Erzurum and the rest of the volunteers then proceeded to Thailand to provide care to the local community in need for eight days, working side by side with local optometry students from Thailand. 

The trip inspired Dr. Erzurum to focus on what more she could do in her own community with Sight for All United. Her three big takeaways were:

* No one is too small to make an impact. Any little thing that she or others can do, does make a difference in someone’s life. 

* Collaboration is king.  “We can’t achieve anything if ego gets in the way; we have to learn how to work together,” she explains.