EYE DONATION AWARENESS

EYE DONATION * AWARENESS

*

A GRAPHIC DESIGN PROJECT

Studio 1 Eye Donation Awareness in Urban Context

Immanuel Suresh Guide

Anuj Vijay Gadre S0901103 Graphic Design PGDPD

Aknowledgement First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Immanuel Suresh, my Guide, whose expert guidance helped me to carry on with my project and also whose witty and engaging stories kept most of us enticed during the discussions.

I would also like to thank Mr. Tarun Deep Girdher, coordinator Graphic Design, for the initial discussions and time to time guidance.

I would thank my batch mates, especially classmates, for all the discussions we had on project status, and for their unbiased comments and feedbacks.

Most importantly I thank my parents, for this wonderful life, They have given me.

Humbly, Anuj Vijay Gadre

The brief The brief for this project was to find any topic from the broad dimensions of health care and children, where a graphical intervention in print is possible. The brief restricted us from taking a topic beyond the aforementioned dimensions and the time period restriction was for 6 weeks.

Finding the Topic After the brief was given there was sudden search for topics but it was not leading to any concrete idea. Then after the next batch meeting, there was a pretty clear picture of what all can be done in a project and what kind of topics can be decided.

Needless to say, there were many topics which I thought would be interesting to pursue the project ahead. But then after a preliminary research in each, either the project seemed too ambitious or some possibility of intervention was not found or it was redundant and did not entice me much. Some of such topics were viz., New mother’s guide to child care, guide to vaccine, awareness of STDs, T.B., Organ donation, against self-employed child labour, for Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, fire cracker guide etc.

Then after this I thought of talking to people and since it was related to health care, I had a talk with Dr. Vega Chandorkar, Ophthalmologist, who gave a lot of input on what all basic needs they feel that graphic design can venture into. After initial talks with her I had come up with three ideas viz., Patient education in clinics installed in waiting areas, Promotion of Eye donation and transplantation, and Patient and visitor guidance system in large hospitals.

Then I wrote detailed proposals on each topic and did some initial research. After is met the guide regarding the three proposals I decided I would go ahead with the promotion of eye donation as my topic for project/studio 1.

Why Eye Donation When I looked into this topic I found certain opportunities and existing needs as of what can be the extent of work I could do in the project.

Potential: The fact that I myself was unaware of so many aspects of this field I was convinced that there is a lot of potential in this topic for me to research, study and explore.

Lack of awareness: the awareness level in general public about this topic was so low, this I found by asking anyone I knew about their standard of knowledge on eye donation.

Except for those who had a doctor in their family or friends, everyone was not aware of eye donation in general. Also I found there are many misconceptions that are related to the process and execution of eye donation.

Relevance to the present: We are in the age when the government of India has realized the importance and that is a need of the hour that eye donation has to be taken seriously as a campaign to deal with the high numbers corneal blindness. Vision 2020 India is a government of India initiative.

The National Forum (VISION 2020: The Right to Sight – INDIA) is a key driver of the World Health Organization-International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (WHO IAPB) joint global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness from India.

India Vision website offers lot of information about the various aspects of Vision 2020.

Please visit http://www.indiavision2020.org.

Proposal After all this initial research I went ahead with eye donation, and finished writing my proposal for the project.

Studio 1

Eye Donation in Urban Scenario Information and awareness Guide Immanuel Suresh

Background Why Eye Donation ? Every year in India there is a steady rise of around 25,000 cases of corneal diseases. In comparison with this, the number of donors that are available is less than half of that required. Eye Donation eventually would add up to the efforts in support of the Vision 2020 India mission.

Eye Donation is the one kind of organ donation where the actual donation is done only after Donor’s death. Donor’s responsibility just does not stop at the time he take the pledge to donate but it becomes donor’s as well as his family’s responsibility. After his death it’s the family of the donor who has to take the responsibility of informing the eye-bank in time so that the collection can be done.

Eye Donation in our society is negatively affected due to the social stigma attached to organ donation, like disfiguring of the body etc.

It’s again a surgical process where there are many myths attached to it.

Anuj Vijay Gadre PG Graphic Design ‘09 Semester 2 Studio 1 Proposal

Immanuel Suresh Guide

Date

Anuj Vijay Gadre Semester 2 PG Graphic Design ‘09 anuj.gadre@gmail.com anuj.g@nid.edu +919429534865 Duration 6 weeks

Objectives The scope of design intervention lies in • creating awareness • facilitate the procedures • eduacte the society The area of action of this project necessarily starts as the donor decides to donate his eyes. The project would help such possible donors to communicate this to his family or other near ones, make them aware and ready for the actual donation. It would help to find that one right channel of communication through which people could be educated and made aware of not just what is eye donation but also how is it done.

This requires studying the various needs of a doctor, donor and the family about the general information they need. Also it will require preparing the data and arranging it in compartments so as to decide which information is required for which user group.

Various ways of effective communication of information in such case have to be studied along with studying any existing systems.

Context Doctors of this field, find a serious need of education of the donor and his family, so that they can ensure that the donor’s wish is fulfilled. For that there is a need to make the donor and his family, aware about its necessity, the myths, and the procedures and precautions they need to take, in case they want to make a successful donation.

Target Audience The target audience in this project is the donor himself, who needs to be educated about the various aspects of eye donation, the procedure and precautions, and a teaching aid which will eventually help him to explain the same to his own family, the society the donor is part of and the doctors who are supposed to take the information to all the aforementioned.

Tentative End Deliverable The design solution of this project would be through some kind of printed media.

Tentative Budget Material cost as per actual Printing cost Rs. 1500

Proposed Methodology on a Time line

Project Briefing, Selection and Proposal

week 1 & 2

Data Collection | Analysis and Inference

week 3 & 4

Concept Development | Design Development

week 4 & 5

Final Concept | Design Solution

week 5

Documentation

week 6

How do I start?

Effective Communication: Here I need to communicate to the target audience about the need of eye donation and the process. But this cannot be done without finding the correct form and medium of communication. A message communicated badly might as well get lost.

Therefore effective communication becomes important Problems: Here I need to find that what are the various problems that are revolving around this topic. There are problems in each and every communication channel and finding and targeting each and every individual problem would give a clear context to work on.

The usual problem areas are Posthumous: The fact that eye donation is performed after the donor’s death becomes the most important and challenging problem of the process. After the donor’s death, it’s his family or friends who have to decide and act quickly so as to perform the medical procedure in the required time limit.

State of mind of the donor’s family: Since the state of mind of the donor’s family may not be on normal bar, so they should be at least in the knowledge of the event and act in favour of the donor’s wish who pledged to donate his eyes.

Clinical Issues: The process of removing the eye from the donor’s body or “enucleation” is only successful if it is done within 6 hours from the donor’s death. After that period of time the eye is damaged due to decomposition and is rendered not useful. Basic hygiene is to be kept after the death which is also important for the ease of the surgical process which merely takes around 30 minutes.

Awareness level of donor: Any donor, who pledges to donate his eyes, should also be aware of the procedures and legalities of the donation process and hence should pass this information to his relatives and friends, so that at the time of his death, the relatives can take necessary actions.

Non-concurrence views on eye donation between donor and his family: also it’s important that the donor also takes his family in confidence of his decisions and thus help the donor to perform the noble deed.

Social Stigmas Social stigma: With an organ donation as eye donation, it is obvious that there are many social stigmas and taboo attached to it from time to time, prevailing across region, religion and sexes. For example, the need of the eye in afterlife.

Awareness level: Before starting any work, it was important to know a status of the awareness level of the target audience. Without the knowledge of which any decisions made would be on assumptions.

After life: That the eye would be used by the person in =his afterlife it’s not meant to be given to anyone else.

Community bias: As according to Dr. Dipali from Nagri Eye Hospitals, certain communities have beliefs that are against the eye donation which bcomes a problem in the basic awareness program.

Importance of the organ: The eye as an organ, is one of the most imposrtant organ. Realated to it are many myths and taboos which also come in the way of eye donation.

Rituals: Death of a family member, brings not just grief, but the family is also involved post dweath rituals as based in each religion. Its a little difficult, to think in such case the family would think about donating the dead person’s organs.

A few Facts about Eye Donation An eye bank is an organisation, which obtain, evaluates and distributes eyes from humanitarian-minded citizens for use in corneal transplantation, research and education. To ensure patient safety, the donated eyes are evaluated under strict medical standards. All donated eyes not suitable for corneal transplantation are used for valuable research and education.

Donated human eyes are necessary in preservation and restoration of sight through corneal transplantation, research and education. More than 90% corneal transplant operation successfully restores vision in people suffering from blindness due to corneal problems. Infants born with cloudy corneas have an opportunity to see following corneal transplantation.

The cornea is the clear, transparent dome in front of the “black portion� of the eye. It is also the main focussing surface, which converges light rays as they enter the eye to focus on the retina. It is thus the most important part of the optical apparatus of the Eye. Loss of transparency directly results in loss of vision.

A Corneal transplant is an operation, which replaces the opaque cornea with a clear cornea Obtained from a human donor eye.

Before and After the corneal transplantation

A cornea can become opaque due to: 1. Infection 2. Injuries 3. Iatrogenic (Malpractice, Improper Post-operative care after any eye surgery) 4. Malnutrition 5. Congenital/Hereditary.

Practically anybody from the age of 1 year. There is no maximum age limit. Poor eye sight and age make no difference. One can bequeath his eyes by taking a pledge while he is alive. He resolve to donate his eyes after his death. This by itself is a noble act but it requires relatives or friends to carry out his pledge, his desire, after his death.

Spectacle Wearers, persons who had cataract surgery, diabetics and hypertensive can donate eyes. The ultimate decision about usage for transplantation will be made after evaluation.

For criminal and medical reasons following cannot be a donor.

1. Death of unknown cause.

2. Death due to infectious caused viz., Rabies, syphilis, infectious hepatitis, septicaemia, AIDS, A person already dead can be donor if the next-of-kin consent to a donation even if the deceased family member hasn’t signed a pledge form.

You are authorized to donate the eyes of your beloved relatives at the time of their death. That the eyes need to be collected within 6 hours of death. So, call the eye bank as early as possible after the death. Things to do after making the call: 1. Keep both eyes of deceased closed and covered with moist cotton.

2. Switch off the overhead fan.

3. If possible, instil antibiotic eye drops periodically in the deceased’s eyes-to reduce the chance of infection.

4. Raise the head end of the body by about 6 inches, if possible - to lessen the incidence of bleeding during the removal of the eyes.

After the donation the following tasks are carried out.

Tissue Evaluation: At the eye bank, the donor corneas strictly evaluated by various procedures including slit lamp examination. Serology examination, specular microscopic evaluation done by the specialist.

Tissue processing and preservation: At the eye bank, the corneas are removed from the eye ball and preserved in special storage solutions that can keep the corneal healthy for 14 days.

Tissue Distribution: Good quality corneas are used for Corneal Transplant surgeries.

The donor corneas are used for various types of keratoplasty procedures including multiple procedures.

The donor sclera is preserved in absolute alcohol and used for various surgical procedures of our Glaucoma Services, Ocular Trauma and Oculo Plasty services.

And rests in part of donor eye ball are used for research by the research units of Micro Biology, Biochemistry, Ocular Pathology, Molecular Biology and genetics.

Case Study: Collection and assessment of the existing modes of communication existing, both in print and electronic media. This includes pamphlets, TV ads and videos online.

List of few TV ads and print ads.

The existing literature: pamphlets, cards available at various eye banks and hospitals.

One of the most well known TV ads on eye donation in India featuring Aishwarya Rai.

The existing literature: pamphlets, cards available at various eye banks and hospitals.

Available posters on the Internet on Eye donation.

As a part of the research process, I visited Ahemedabad’s two renowned eye banks and hospitals and had meetings with the technicians and doctors there. Following are the conclusions and finding based on these meetings.

Dr. Dipali Setna from Nagri Eye Hospital, Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad.

Mr. Vipul Aagaja from Aso Palav Eye Bank, Shahibaug, Ahmedabad.

Data Collection: To get the awareness level of the target audience, I conducted a survey both online and personal. The survey form was created and circulated.

Eye Donation Awareness Eye Donation Awarene Name Age

10-18

18-32

32-50

Put yourself in the class you think you are.

Upper Upper Middle Lower

Sex

Name

50-Above

Age

Middle

Lower Middle

Sex 10-18

18-32

32-50

Put yourself in the class you think you are.

Upper Upper Middle Lower

50-Above

Middle

Do you have any one in family or friends as a Doctor?

Yes No

Do you have any one in family or friends as a Doctor?

Yes No

Do you have someone in relation to you who is visually challenged?

Yes No

Do you have someone in relation to you who is visually challenged?

Yes No

Eye Donation to you is?

Important Of no use

Noble Cause Should be avoided

Easy Process Prohibited

Difficult I don't know

Eye Donation to you is?

Important Of no use

Noble Cause Should be avoided

Easy Process Prohibited

Do you know someone who has donated his/her eyes or have pledged to do so?

Yes No

Do you know someone who has donated his/her eyes or have pledged to do so?

Yes No

Do you know someone who is benefited by eye donation?

Yes No

Do you know someone who is benefited by eye donation?

Yes No

Has anyone ever told you about eye donation before?

Yes No

Has anyone ever told you about eye donation before?

Yes No

If yes then How?

If yes then How?

Have you ever Tried on your own to know about eye donation?

Yes No If yes then How?

Do you know about th government camps organized in the period of August last week and September first week for Eye Donation Awareness?

Yes No

Do you have any one in family or friends as a Doctor?

Lower Middl

Difficult I don't know

Eye Donation Awareness Survey, Have you ever Tried on your own to know about eye donation? which was conducted Yes No both on the Internet If yes then How? and in person.

Do you know about th government camps organized in the period of August last week and Se tember first week for Eye Donation Awareness?

Yes No

No 30% Yes 70%

Yes 30%

Do you know someone who has donated his/her eyes or have pledged to do so?

No 70%

No 37%

Has anyone ever told you about eye donation before?

Yes 63%

Yes 25%

Have you ever tried on your own to know about eye donation

No 75%

The Process of Problematization After finding of what all is done and can be done, let’s find out where are the major problem areas and what those problems are, that come in the way of effective functioning and communication in eye donation awareness.

Donation?

So what is donation, according to the dictionary, donation literally means “A voluntary gift (as of money, service or ideas) made to some worthwhile cause” or “Act of giving in common with others for a common purpose especially to a charity”. In both cases clearly, the donor is in a position of no gain, and thus has to be mentally prepared to give away a something which is his/her to someone else. The problem here lies in the fact that this item of donation is a non-replaceable organ of the body.

Solution: that the process of eye donation is posthumous and the donor does not need his eyes after his death and that he can help others to see even after his death.

Anonymity?

People want to be known. The process of eye donation and the donor’s credentials are kept completely secret so as to reduce any discrepancies.

Rituals?

At the time of somebody’s death, in a country like ours, we follow certain rituals. Also the state of mind of the people going through the situation is also very crucial. It is very difficult to expect that in such situation they would remember to call the doctor/ eye bank and ask them to get the eye from the donor.

Solution: the act of eye donation is considered so pious that if its spiritually attached to the rituals, people would be considerate enough to keep the donors wish fulfilled.

Doctor’s reach?

At the given situation where the donor’s side all set to perform the donation, it also comes upon the eye bank and the doctor to be there on time.

Solution: if the doctor is called at the earliest then, any hassle or difficulty does not come across.

Society Initiative?

Just like blood donation, it is the society who has to be aware and reach out to the people to respond positively toward eye donation.

Solution: create enough awareness to mass media about ye donation Doctor’s initiative?

Doctor’s profession is considered as one of the major and respected profession. If the initiative for the awareness and advertising bout the benefits and process of eye donation is taken up by the doctor’s then the word can spread to all the patients the doctor attends to.

Solution: provision of explanatory material for doctors to teach their patients.

Brainstorming sessions on what is the idea of donation and what should be asked about it to people.

Chart representing various communication channels and the problems respectively.

So what is the Right Solution??

Donor – Family: Develop a tool for the donor to educate his family Society: Promote the eye donation fortnight camp Doctor – Donor: Promote eye donation in hospitals, clinics.

To bring the change what was needed was not tell What but Why and How The possible mediums could be, Existing hospital stationary, Which has a reach to all patients , accompanies who visit the hospital, Or, Newspaper ads, online images, poster , which is a well used medium, because of its reach and impact.

Concept 1

The existing office stationary carries the file, and has leaflets with instructions to the patients. What is interesting is that this file has to be carried by the patient and maintained regularly.

My concept is to provide a leaflet with the necessary message on it and can carry a pledge form also, so if the patients decide upon pledging they do not have to look for the form.

Concept 2

Ek ka Do

1 कञ 2

Its a lesser known fact, due to the high demand of corneal transplants, that the eyes donated by one donor are not transplanted to a single person, but are given to two people. This way, two blind persons are benefitted by just one donor, hence 1 ka 2.

For the sake of my project, hypothetically, I chose Aso Palov Eye Bank, Ahmedabad as the client, due to their potential, reach and background.

2

Explorations A poster in A1 size which emphasises the concept of 1 ka 2 with the use of contradiction in visual and its meaning. When you see that 1 equals to 2, you try to believe it and so, get near it to see the explanation and hence, read about Eye Donation.

Ek ka Do

1 कञ 2

1 ka 2 1=2 2 make it possible Eyes donated by one donor, can bring light to two lives.

Donate Eyes

ka make it possible Eyes donated by one donor, can bring light to two lives.

Donate Eyes Retina Foundation observes National Eye Donation fortnight 25th August - 8th September 2010

Retina Foundation observes National Eye Donation fortnight 25th August - 8th September 2010

1 ka 2 1=2 1=2 make it possible make it possible Eyes donated by one donor, can bring light to two lives.

Donate Eyes

Retina Foundation observes National Eye Donation fortnight 25th August - 8th September 2010

make it possible Eyes donated by one donor, can bring light to two lives.

Donate Eyes

Retina Foundation observes National Eye Donation fortnight 25th August - 8th September 2010

Eyes donated by one donor, can bring light to two lives.

Donate Eyes Retina Foundation observes National Eye Donation fortnight 25th August - 8th September 2010

1=2 Eyes donated by one donor, can bring light to two lives.

Donate Eyes

2

not style

Retina Foundation observes National Eye Donation fortnight 25th August - 8th September 2010

NOT EVERYONE WEARS THEM FOR STYLE Donate Eyes.

VISIT www.idonation.in

The Aso Palav Eye Bank, was formed at Retina Foundation & Eye Research Centre in 2003, with the main objective of creating awareness about eye donation and kindle the hope of sight among the dark lives through donation of eyes pledged by the benevolent donors during their life time.

The Eye Bank is An active Member of the Eye Bank Association of India and also accredited by the Gujarat Government , Directorate of Health Services to collect, process, distribute corneas and do corneal transplantation. It is provided with all the latest equipment for eye banking as per international standards of eye banking.

Out of the nearly 6 billion people, 1/4th of the world’s blind in India.

27 million - moderate sight impairment 9 million - bilateral blind 260,000 - blind children No of Corneal Blinds in India 4.6 million Out of 4.6 million 90% are below the age of 45 years including 60% are below the age of 12 years.

Out of these 4.6 million, atleast 3 million can benefit by Corneal transplantation.

To donate eyes, the relatives of the deceased should do the following procedures 1. Close the eyelids of the deceased 2. Switch off the fan 3. Raise the head of the deceased slightly by placing a pillow underneath 4. Contact the nearest eye bank as quickly as possible.

5. Give the correct address with specific landmarks and telephone number to enable the eye bank team locate the place easily 6. If the death certificate from the physician is available, keep it ready 7. Eye donation can be done only with the written consent of the next of kin in the presence of two witnesses.

I have plegded that my eyes be donated within 6 hours of death. I have informed my relatives about my decision.

Name Address City Phone

Date

Signature/Thumb Imprint

File Leaflets that can be given together with the patient file, this contains a poster, based on the same theme of contradiction of image and the meaning. Behind the poster, it contains brief information about the eye bank, need of eye donation and pledge form with details about the precautions that the family member of the donor have to follow.

1=2 Eyes donated by one donor, can bring light to two lives.

Donate Eyes

Retina Foundation observes National Eye Donation fortnight 25th August - 8th September 2010

Final poster in A1 size. The selection of colour is based upon the anaglyph images.

The tag line of ‘make it possible’ removed, to bring the message of donate eyes in prominence. Logo of the eye bank added.

Application: This poster can be put in the waiting areas off the hospital. The smaller versions can be treated to be newspaper ads.

NOT STYLE

NOT EVERYONE WEARS THEM FOR STYLE Donate Eyes.

VISIT www.idonation.in

The colour is kept black and white and the image is already converted to halftone. This leaflet is supposed to be copied and used more widely, therefore use of any colour may cause discrepancies as photo copy is the most used method to make copies.

Application: This will be added to the patient file given to each and every patient entering the hospital.

The Aso Palav Eye Bank, was formed at Retina Foundation & Eye Research Centre in 2003, with the main objective of creating awareness about eye donation and kindle the hope of sight among the dark lives through donation of eyes pledged by the benevolent donors during their life time.

The Eye Bank is An active Member of the Eye Bank Association of India and also accredited by the Gujarat Government , Directorate of Health Services to collect, process, distribute corneas and do corneal transplantation. It is provided with all the latest equipment for eye banking as per international standards of eye banking.

Out of the nearly 6 billion people, 1/4th of the world’s blind in India.

27 million - moderate sight impairment 9 million - bilateral blind 260,000 - blind children No of Corneal Blinds in India 4.6 million Out of 4.6 million 90% are below the age of 45 years including 60% are below the age of 12 years.

Out of these 4.6 million, atleast 3 million can benefit by Corneal transplantation.

To donate eyes, the relatives of the deceased should do the following procedures 1. Close the eyelids of the deceased 2. Switch off the fan 3. Raise the head of the deceased slightly by placing a pillow underneath 4. Contact the nearest eye bank as quickly as possible.

5. Give the correct address with specific landmarks and telephone number to enable the eye bank team locate the place easily 6. If the death certificate from the physician is available, keep it ready 7. Eye donation can be done only with the written consent of the next of kin in the presence of two witnesses.

I have plegded that my eyes be donated within 6 hours of death. I have informed my relatives about my decision.

Name Address City Phone

Signature/Thumb Imprint

Date

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4.

Ronnie Lipton; Information Graphics and Visual Clues. USA, Rockport Publishers.

Ambrose, Gavin; Basic Design: Layout. Switzerland, AVA Publishing.

Ambrose, Gavin; Basic Design: Format. Switzerland, AVA Publishing.

Dave Saunders; Best ADS Shock in Advertising. London, BT Batsford, 2000.

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www.images.google.com www.idonation.in www.aravind.org/eyebank/faq.asp www.donateyourorgan.com/donateyourorgan/eyedonation/abouteyedonation.aspx www.snappyfingers.com/faq/health/eye-donation/ www.retinafoundation.com/