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Student on medical mission to spend summer in Mexico

Jay Weislogel says his passion is optical care for the poor

Jay Weislogel from Hamilton will be serving for three months this summer with Operation Serve as a field assistant to provide optical care to the poor in Mexico, his fourth trip with the Fairfield-based mission group.

Contributed photo Jay Weislogel from Hamilton will be serving for three months this summer with Operation Serve as a field assistant to provide optical care to the poor in Mexico, his fourth trip with the Fairfield-based mission group.

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 2:21 AM Tuesday, June 22, 2010

HAMILTON — Jay Weislogel is glad to be down in the dumps, so to speak, this summer.

The Hamilton native will spend the bulk of his summer in Mexico on a medical mission under the auspices of Operation Serve International, a Fairfield-based medical mission group.

“Essentially, we provide medical and mercy missions to the poor who live in the garbage dump cities and impoverished areas of Mexico, people who can’t afford basic health care,” Weislogel said. “This is my fourth trip and my passion is for optical care, working to provide eyeglasses and lenses that are expensive and the people can’t afford.

“I remember growing up and wearing eyeglasses and contact lenses and didn’t think twice about it, but these people can’t afford low-power lenses, much less any kind of specialized care,” he said.

Weislogel will be a junior at William Jessup University, a private Christian university located in Northern California, with a major in intercultural studies and a minor in English.

“Theoretically, I could use my college background to become a missionary or if I would do some more schooling, I could do some business applications,” he said. “Right now, I’m just narrowing down my options.”

Operation Serve International uses mobile clinics in Mexico City, Mexico, and a permanent clinic in Cairo, Egypt, to provide care.

“Through short term mission teams, OSI mobilizes large campaigns of medical, dental, hair care and vision testing and optical care as a way to show Christ’s love,” said Dr. Sameh Sadik, executive director.

Sameh and his wife, Fairfield native Connie (Jarvis) Sadik, a registered nurse, have been serving as missionaries for 19 years with Operation Serve.

“The World Health Organization reports that 80 percent of blindness is avoidable,” Connie Sadik said. “With almost half of the world over three billion people living on less than $2.50 a day there are many children and families struggling to survive and many of the people OSI serves live on less $1 a day.

“Providing a child or adult with distance glasses or an adult with reading glasses can restore their vision and impact their life,” she said.

For more information on Operation Serve, call (513) 939-2000 or email info@operationserve.org.

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