L V Prasad Eye Institute - The LVPEI Connection - LV Prasad Eye ...

‘A Meaningful Learning Experience’Neha Mehta, a dual degree MBA and Masters in PublicHealth student at the University of California at Berkeley,USA spent 6 weeks interning at LVPEI's InternationalCentre for Advancement of Rural Eye care (ICARE) lastsummer. Her preceptor was S Sheeladevi, AssociatePublic Health Specialist. An excerpt from an interviewwith Neha:"My internship focused on one of L V Prasad's majorcommunity outreach initiatives to address childhoodblindness – the Nimmagadda Prasad – LVPEI Children'sEye Health Initiative that aims at preventing childhoodblindness so that ‘No child in Andhra Pradesh is needlesslyblind or visually impaired by the year 2020’. This initiativewas launched on July 7, 2007 with 10 years of assuredfunding from the Nimmagadda Foundation, and providesfree primary and secondary eye healthcare, diagnosis andtreatment services, including glasses, to children aged0-15 years.My internship was structured to offer a wellroundedexperience with opportunities for growthand learning. Rotatingbetween various patientcare and administrativedepartments at thehospital, and thecommunity health projectshelped me develop abroad understanding of theInstitute's structure, strategyand operations. My projectwork involved rich, eye-openingvisits to rural villages and towns in Andhra Pradesh whereI conducted 45 community field interviews to determinestakeholder perceptions, challenges and ways tostrengthen this initiative. I also quantitatively assessed thecurrent gap in outreach services for the child populationin these geographical areas. I interviewed the Institute'semployees across all levels, including key leadership,external advisors and contacts at partner organizations,which allowed me to gain a good understanding of LVP'sorganizational structure, culture and context within thelarger healthcare network.Given my interest in pediatric public health management,I thoroughly enjoyed my first-hand experience in anIndian rural health setting, as well as the opportunityto develop community health program evaluation andanalysis skills. I am extremely grateful to everyone whohelped make this a valuable and meaningful learningexperience. I look forward to returning to India to workin pediatric community healthcare after completing myMBA and MPH.”Neha MehtaHaas School of Business and School of Public HealthUniversity of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USASchoolchildren at ICARE, Kismatpur clinic for vision screening as part of the Nimmagadda Prasad – LVPEI program57Activity Report 2010–2011