Wikivision

Wikivision recently held our annual student fundraising concert. Organized by our student executive team, we had performers, ranging from 2nd to 12th grade, from multiple schools across the island! Additionally, two of our patients gave testimonies about what WikiVision means to them. Thanks to the efforts of our community, we raised over $6,000 to continue our mission of providing cataract surgery to those who are underinsured or uninsured. We are endlessly grateful to ‘Iolani School for allowing us to use their facilities, to those who donated raffle prizes, to our attendees, and, of course, to all those who have continuously given their support to our non-profit.

This year, WikiVision is holding a raffle at our annual fundraising concert! Mahalo to the local businesses and patrons who donated our raffle prizes! Please come support our mission of giving free cataract surgery to those who cannot afford it by attending our free concert on August 24th in ‘Iolani School’s Seto Hall from 1-3pm for a chance to win!

Today, the WikiVision team held our pre-op day for this year’s round of cataract surgeries! We met with 26 patients—several of whom were following up from previous years when we removed cataracts from one of their eyes to now have surgery performed on the other—to prepare for their upcoming surgery day in September by taking measurements of their eyes, determining which type of artificial lens would work best for them, and more.

Additionally, we partnered with the amazing to give routine pre-surgery physical examinations to our patients who don’t have access to a primary care provider. We are looking forward to providing restorative vision care for so many patients this year, and to hopefully improve their quality of life!

Please come support us at our annual free charity concert on August 24th in ‘Iolani School’s Seto Hall! We are fundraising to continue our mission of giving free cataract surgery to those who cannot afford it.

This year, we are also holding a raffle with over $2000 worth of prizes donated by local patrons and businesses. Thank you so much to our donors! Please come down to both support and try your luck!

This past year, WikiVision has been lucky enough to participate in the Riley’s Way Call for Kindness (C4K) fellowship! Through this program, we received a grant as well as so much professional support, which we are endlessly grateful for.

In February, several of our staff attended the annual C4K retreat in Atlanta, Georgia. They met many members of other youth-led nonprofits and attended workshops to practice skills like networking and personal branding.

This next 2024-2025 cycle, WikiVision again has been lucky enough to receive a Riley’s Way C4K Continuation Grant to help with our work and the maintained growth of the organization. This time, we are serving as mentors for another young changemaker instead of as the mentee. We are so excited to see what this next year brings! Thank you, Riley’s Way!

Wikivision’s annual fundraising concert is August 24th from 1-3pm at ‘Iolani School’s Seto Hall! With your support and donations in funding our surgeries, this year we anticipate reaching a milestone 100 patients helped with having their vision restored for free since our non-profit’s inception. The concert is free so please come to support our performers, and donate if you can. Refreshments will be provided afterwards. We will also be having a raffle with prizes donated from several supporters and local businesses, so come on down to try your luck!

Wikivision team members recently held our annual screening day. We examined 20 patients to see if they were eligible for cataract surgeries, and plan to help
30-40 people with the money we raise. We will be hosting the pre-op day for these patients in the coming weeks before having our fundraising concert on August 24th. We are very excited for our surgery day and to be able to help so many people!

The WikiVision team is proud to announce our fourth annual Cataract Surgery day, which will be held on September 7th, 2024! If you or anyone you know currently suffers from cataracts and is unable to pay for the cost of surgery, WikiVision is here to help!
A big mahalo to Dr. Vivien Tham of Pacific Vision Hawaii, Dr. William Wong Jr. of Hawaii Vision Clinic, Dr. Kenneth Chang of Eye Doctors Hawail, and the Eye Surgery Center of Hawaii for making our surgeries possible. We are also grateful to all of our donors for supporting us, and we look forward to our surgery day!

Flora Liao is currently a rising junior at lolani, and is the Chief Communications Officer for Wikivision.
Flora’s interests revolves around music, sports, reading, and spending time with her friends. She hopes that by joining Wikivision, she can gain more experience in helping her community and making an impact.

There are multiple ways to treat glaucoma. Daily medicated eyedrops can lower your eye pressure either through reducing the amount of aqueous fluid produced in the eye or by increasing flow through the drainage angle. As for surgeries, there are two types of laser procedures. While a trabeculoplasty is for people with open-angle glaucoma and also helps the flow of fluid out of the drainage angle, an iridotomy is for people with angle-closure glaucoma. In an iridotomy, the laser makes a small hole in the iris in order to help fluid get to the drainage angle. In any case, glaucoma treatments work by decreasing one’s eye pressure.

Wikivision team members recently held our annual screening day. We examined 20 patients to see if they were eligible for cataract surgeries, and plan to help 30-40 people with the money we raise. We will be hosting the pre-op day for these patients in the coming weeks before having our fundraising concert on August 24th. We are very excited for our surgery day and to be able to help so many people!

Calder Engle is a rising junior at ‘Iolani School and serves as Wikivision’s Chief Informational Officer. Having volunteered with the Hawai’i Humane Society and Hawai’i Foodbank for several years, he joined Wikivision with the hope of continuing to find ways to give back to his community.

Because of how serious glaucoma can be, it’s important to be properly diagnosed. The only certain way to know if you have glaucoma is to have an eye exam performed.

https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/the-conversation/2024-07-12/wikivision-cataracts-iolani-school
Listen to our CEO, Arabella Tan discuss about our upcoming 4th annual Wikivision surgery day where we hope to help 40 people have free cataract surgery on . Our fundraising concert is held at Iolani School Seto Hall on August 24th at 1pm. Please join us to help teens inspire the vision of tomorrow.

Arabella Tan is a sophomore at ‘Iolani School. In the summer of 2022, she founded WikiVision alongside her brother, with the goal of giving back to ‘Oahu’s community. She has loved being a part of WikiVision for the past four years, and she is grateful for all of the opportunities the team has had to help people. She is excited to see what WikiVision will be able to accomplish in the future!

Ashlyn Ito is a new member who will be serving as our Chief Development Officer. She is currently a sophomore at ‘Iolani School who is passionate about music, athletics, and helping others. She hopes to inspire change within the community through WikiVision.

Glaucoma encompasses various types, including open-angle glaucoma, which progresses slowly with no noticeable symptoms until vision loss occurs, and angle-closure glaucoma, characterized by sudden eye pressure spikes, leading to severe symptoms like eye pain and blurred vision. Additionally, secondary glaucoma can develop as a consequence of other eye conditions or factors, necessitating tailored treatment approaches based on the underlying cause.

Caleb Lee is a junior at Punahou School and is the current Chief Financial Officer of Wikivision. He enjoys writing, listening to music, and playing tennis. This is Caleb’s fourth year on staff and he is looking forward to serving those in need of eyecare once again.

Glaucoma is caused by an increase in your intraocular pressure. This occurs when the area of your eye, called the drainage angle, which is supposed to drain old aqueous humor out as more is produced, ceases to function as expected. As the aqueous humor builds up so does pressure, which can harm your optic nerve.

Tamara Lum will be serving as our Chief Operations Officer this year. She is currently a junior at ‘Iolani School, and is excited to be working with WikiVision for another year to work with the community and support those who are in need.

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness for people over 60 years old, causing vision loss by damaging the optic nerve of the eye. The most common cause of glaucoma is fluid buildup in the front part of the eye. This increases the eye's pressure, which causes the optic nerve to become damaged and results in visual blind spots to form.

Federico grew up in the Philippines, but now enjoys spending time with his grandchildren on the island. In his free time, he loves reading pocketbooks of any kind, but especially westerns. Due to his cataracts developing, being able to do that became much more difficult. This was his second surgery with us, and he was grateful to be able to see well in both eyes once again.

Ms. Lori J was born in Zhongshan, China, and has lived in Hawaii since age 11. Her favorite part of living in Hawaii is the weather and the friendly community of our island culture.

She enjoys doing Tai Chi, playing tennis, and singing and dancing with her friends. She is also a former fashion designer with a unique sewing pattern specialty in Hawaii. Currently, she enjoys video editing on her cellphone, but her cataracts gave her a difficult time doing so.

After her successful surgery, she was proud to report her expectations were greatly exceeded, and she looks forward to enjoying her day to day routine in the fullest. This includes using her cellphone for video editing more efficiently, and also being able to see the ball better when she play tennis!

Xiu Yu was born in Gong D**g, China, and has called Hawaii home for the past 31 years. He deeply appreciates the sense of community that Hawaii offers, noting that there is always someone available to assist whenever he needs help.

Currently, he lives with his wife and her family, and their household is enriched by the presence of 1 daughter, 2 sons, 3 granddaughters, 5 grandsons, and 1 great-grandchild.

Xiu Yu finds joy in activities like walking and gardening. However, since he developed cataracts, he has been forced to approach tasks at a slower pace.

Following a successful surgery, Xiu Yu now experiences greater convenience when going outdoors and engaging in regular exercise.

Edgar. T grew up in the Philippines and has lived in Waikiki, Hawaii since 2001. For a few years, his vision has limited his ability to do daily tasks. After the surgery, he would like to walk more. He is very satisfied with the whole process and results!

Prescila R. grew up in the Philippines and has lived in Hawaii for almost a year. She lives at home with her two daughters and grandchildren, and enjoys cooking for them. Although her cataracts have been affecting her vision for almost ten years, they did not have a significant impact on her daily life, and she was glad to still be able to take care of her family. However, the surgery was beyond her expectations and she was incredibly grateful to be able to “see like a baby again.”

WikiVision co-founders were thrilled to be featured on the podcast recently! This podcast aims to amplify the stories of young changemakers with a larger audience, and the WikiVision team was hononed to be able to share about our organization, founding, and the work that we've done recently! You can listen to the poscast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0TdM5BhFRkpBCpPyFNrX5Y?si=J8uPblbkQ56-wlOY01ZwtQ

Emma M. has been a local resident of Nānākuli for over 54 years. For the last few years, her cataracts have inhibited her ability to do her favorite hobbies, such as reading (loves stories), and swimming at the beach.

She loved the surgical/post-operative care, and is ecstatic to finally see well! Now that she is done with the surgery, she is excited to get a new cellphone.

John T., a native of Hong Kong, has called Hawaii home for the past five decades, having relocated to the tropical paradise at the age of 17. His enduring affection for Hawaii is deeply rooted in its pleasant weather. Beyond adapting to the Hawaiian climate, John has cultivated diverse interests over the years, finding joy in photography, programming, and table tennis. However, as his vision declined, he slowly lost interest in everything. Now that he has had cataract surgery, he is excited to go outside and resume his hobbies!

Ruth T. grew up in Waipahu, where she currently lives with her mother and grandson. For a year and a half, her cataracts have severely limited her daily and personal life, preventing her from driving, sewing (one of her favorite hobbies), and working. She was forced to stay home a lot of the time due to her visual impairments.

Ruth felt that the surgical and post-operative care exceeded her expectations. She is mainly excited to be able to drive and sew.

She is very thankful to the WikiVision team!