FAIRFAX, Va.—The American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Foundation announced the formation of National Sight Week—Oct. 11-17—which will surround World Sight Day, Oct. 12, 2016.

National Sight Week is a weeklong celebration of volunteerism, during which members of ASCRS’ Operation Sight network—the Foundation’s domestic charitable cataract surgery program—are encouraged to contribute one or more charitable cataract surgeries in their own communities. The Foundation will support the effort by providing a financial stipend for each surgery completed and will mount a national and local media campaign to highlight the work done by Operation Sight volunteer surgeons in their local communities.

Operation Sight’s mission is to eliminate treatable cataract blindness in the U.S. with the help of established charitable organizations and ASCRS-member volunteer surgeons, the ASCRS said.

“We’ve all seen the heartbreaking photos of cataract blinded patients in the developing world, but many forget that there is a similar need right here at home,” said Stephen Lane, MD, co-chair of the ASCRS Foundation and director of the Operation Sight initiative. “Although they often go unnoticed, many poor Americans still fall outside the traditional safety nets. The future is especially bleak for cataract patients who lack private insurance and are not eligible for government care.”

In an effort to broaden Operation Sight’s network address indigent and/or uninsured cataract patients across the U.S., the ASCRS Foundation is encouraging surgeons to join Operation Sight and is helping to match them with those patients.

For more information about Operation Sight and National Sight Week, visit ascrsfoundation.org.