Out of hundreds of entries around the world, HelpMeSee has been selected by judges of the Clearly Vision Prize as one of nine Innovation Prize winners. HelpMeSee was recognized by judges in the Training category for its simulation-based training program, which aims to train the thousands of cataract specialists needed to treat cataract blindness around the world.
The Clearly Vision Prize was established early in 2016 by Clearly founder James Chen to find innovative solutions to “the number one unaddressed disability in the world – poor vision.” This competition opened in April 2016, eliciting over a hundred entries from 21 countries, narrowed down to 36 semi-finalists identified by judges as those with the most significant impact on access vision correction. Among the nine Innovation Prize winners, HelpMeSee was commended by the judges for the potential of its simulation-based surgical training program which will improve access to treatment for cataract blindness.
Speaking about the goals for this international competition, James Chen said, “Good vision empowers and transforms lives on every level… In the digital era, the world has the ideas and the technology to crack this challenge and transform access to sight around the world.”
In recognition of this honor, HelpMeSee’s CEO Jacob Mohan Thazhathu commented, “We are honored to be named among the most innovative groups for our focus on training to treat cataracts, which is the leading cause of preventable blindness around the world.” He added, “Thank you to the judges of the Innovation Prize for this special recognition, and to the founders of Clearly for inspiring this competition in search of new solutions for the global health issues of visual impairment.”
In addition to being named among the Innovation Prize winners, HelpMeSee’s sustainable solutions to end cataract blindness were recently recognized by the 2016 Classy Awards as among the top 10 most innovative non-profits in the world. HelpMeSee was established in 2010 to end the global health crisis of cataracts blindness, which impacts over 20 million people, by creating a simulation-based training program to rapidly train thousands of cataract specialists needed in the developing world. Building on our co-founder Al Ueltschi’s success as a pioneer in aviation simulation training, HelpMeSee has been developing a high-fidelity surgical simulator as part of the comprehensive training program, which was recognized by Clearly in the Training subcategory for the Innovation Prize.
About HelpMeSee
HelpMeSee is a non-profit social enterprise committed to ending the global crisis of cataract blindness, the leading cause of blindness worldwide. HelpMeSee intends to make sight-restoring surgery available to millions of poor within their communities by training tens of thousands of surgeons, many women, to perform high quality, high volume Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) surgery.
Since 2012, the campaign has supported over 250,000 surgeries through partnerships across ten countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. HelpMeSee is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization and was recognized among the top 10 most innovative social enterprises as a winner of the 2016 Classy Awards.
