The signing of the agreement took place in the facilities of the Dr. Oswaldo Loor Moreira Foundation, with the presence of Mr. Leonardo Orlando, Provincial Prefect of Manabí; Mr. Silvio Larrea, Director of Social Development of the GPM; Ms. Yael Seni, General Coordinator of Economic and Productive Development of the GPM; and other collaborators of the Prefecture.

During the event, the results of the agreement signed in 2019 were highlighted, which benefited 1,689 people in the different communities of the twenty-two cantons of the province. In addition, Mrs. Gema Ferrín spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries of the previous agreement and with emotional words thanked both the Provincial Government of Manabí and the Dr. Oswaldo Loor Foundation for all the support that she and her little daughter Enma Valeria have received, especially for financing and performing the bilateral FACO catarata surgery to Enma, which currently allows her to enjoy the wonderful sense of vision.

With the agreement signed in this act, which will have a duration of 12 months, the Foundation plans to carry out free basic eye care days in the twenty-two cantons of the province, to locate people with visual problems and then provide those who require it specialized clinical and surgical treatment in the Medical Center of the Foundation.

Thanks to this agreement, people of limited resources in the Tosagua district will receive free basic eye care and, for those who need it, reading glasses or specialized ophthalmologic care.

The efforts of Mrs. Elba Gonzalez, mayor of Tosagua, and her collaborators, have been fundamental in benefiting countless people who otherwise would not have been able to improve their visual health.

Writing Contest for People with Visual Impairments

On the 29th of October 2021, seven children and young adults with visual impairment, beneficiaries of the Programa Luz, participated in the Writing Contest called “Todos Estamos Conectados” (We are all Connected), organized by the Manta Central Lions Club in conjunction with the Asociación de Personas con Discapacidad Visual San Pablo de Manta, the Fundación Dr. Oswaldo Loor Moreira and the Grupo Incluye. The participants in this event, which was held virtually through the Zoom platform , were organized in three categories called Braille, Ink and Digital.

For the Dr. Oswaldo Loor Foundation it is important that visually impaired people participate and develop in this type of events, since, undoubtedly, it gives them the opportunity to socialize with other people in the same condition and allows them to communicate their feelings.

Congratulations to those who had the initiative to carry it out, to those who supported the organization and to the participants, especially Sofía Palma, Víctor Espinales, Carlos Padilla, Idannia Sornoza, Cristhian Alcívar, Milton Vergara and Niurka Moreira.

Thanks to this agreement, two community promoters support children, young adults and adults with visual impairment in the district of Portoviejo, in the following aspects:

• Clinical ophthalmologic care and specialized low vision care

• Visual therapy

• Daily life task

• Orientation and mobility

• Braille and abacus

• Educational inclusiveness

• New technologies

• Labor insertion by means of self-employment model (Financing of small businesses)

• Sensitization and training of their community (family members, teachers and community)

• Development and provision of adapted teaching materials

• Events for public participation

The visually impaired, beneficiaries of this project, feel very grateful for the permanent support provided by Mr. Agustín Casanova, mayor of Portoviejo, and those who make up the municipal government of Portoviejo.

Despite this situation, the Foundation continued to give priority to the payment of salaries to all its collaborators who, to a large extent, are the only breadwinners in their families.  This group of collaborators also included the promoters of the Programa Luz and Programa Baja Visión, whose salaries were financed by the government of the province of Manabí and the municipality of Portoviejo. Unfortunately, in the year 2020 it was not possible to obtain the generous support of these two institutions, so the Foundation had to assume responsibility for them. Unfortunately, the considerable decrease in income required urgent measures to allow the Foundation to continue providing its services and for this reason, in December 2020, the Luz and Baja Visión programs were suspended and therefore, its collaborators ceased to be part of the Foundation’s team.  

In the year 2021 it was only possible to obtain funding from the municipality of Portoviejo, resulting in the fact that, since March of this year, the Light and Low Vision Programs only serve visually impaired people in this county.