Bison VisionBison Vision
A Manitoba medical-student-led initiative working to bring eye care to rural, remote, and Indigenous communities across Manitoba.
The need is real, and it is close to home.
Source: Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, The Future of Eye Health Care in Manitoba: A Discussion Paper (2023).
Our approach
Learn more →How we work to close the gap in eye care for underserved communities through awareness, advocacy, and action.
Who we are.
Bison Vision is a Manitoba medical-student-led initiative dedicated to improving eye care in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. We work in the hope of bringing that care within reach for the people who live farthest from it. Children are a particular focus, since an untreated eye problem early in life can mean permanent, preventable vision loss.
Awareness. Advocacy. Action.
Launch educational campaigns online and in local communities about preventable blindness in children and adults, and why catching problems early matters.
Bring these gaps to the attention of government and health organizations, and add our voice to the case for better access.
Partner with local eye care and allied health professionals to provide free vision screenings and basic eye exams in rural and remote Manitoba.
Barriers to eye care in Manitoba.
Rural, remote, and Indigenous communities face barriers cities rarely see: distance to specialists, too few ophthalmologists, and stretched staff and funding. For children, whose sight is still developing, the wait does lasting harm.
The result? Longer waits and avoidable vision loss.
Source: Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, The Future of Eye Health Care in Manitoba: A Discussion Paper (2023).
Why the bison.
The bison runs through all of it: the mascot of the University of Manitoba, where most of us study, the provincial emblem, and a long-held symbol of endurance for the Indigenous peoples of the prairies.
Meet the team.
Medical students and clinicians from the University of Manitoba.
Stories and updates.
Stories and updates from our work.
How it all started
In November 2024 I spent ten days at the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital in Nairobi, volunteering on a cataract mission with Islamic Relief Canada's Global Inspire program.
The operation that restores sight takes about fifteen minutes. Some of the people I met had been blind for years, waiting for those fifteen minutes.
What Kenya showed me
I went to help, and we did, hundreds of surgeries over the trip. But I came home thinking about medicine differently. Here it is easy to measure a day by how many cases you got through. In Nairobi that did not hold up. The patients had travelled hours, some from places with no eye care at all, and a few of them were children. Watching someone see their family again is not a number you write down.
Why we started Bison Vision
The question that stuck with me on the flight home was a simple one. We will travel to the other side of the world to do this work. Why not for the people a few hours north of Winnipeg? Rural, remote, and Indigenous communities here face the same barriers I saw in Kenya, the distance, the long waits, the sight lost while you sit on a list. Most people in the city never see it. So a few of us started Bison Vision. The first job is just to say out loud that the gap exists. The harder part comes after, pushing for change and getting eye screenings to communities that have none.
Moments from the mission
Kenya Cataract Mission
A short look at the Gift of Sight cataract campaign in Nairobi, the mission that planted the seed for Bison Vision.
Post Mission Interview
In this reflection, I share how the mission opened my eyes to the privilege and blessings I often take for granted. I came hoping to give, but left having received far more.
Orbis Flying Eye Hospital Fundraiser
University of Manitoba medical students came together to raise money for Orbis and its Flying Eye Hospital, a cause close to the heart of our work on access to eye care. The effort was featured on the Orbis Canada newsroom.
Building the evidence for change.
At Bison Vision, our research focuses on pediatric eye care, access, and wait times for underserved communities in Manitoba. We build our projects on the roadmap and anticipated outcomes set out by the Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba (EPSOM).
The case for change, in numbers.
Source: Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, The Future of Eye Health Care in Manitoba: A Discussion Paper (2023), the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and published Canadian ophthalmology workforce data.
Three research directions.
Understanding why Manitoba's youngest patients can wait over two years for a routine ophthalmology consultation, when a child's sight develops on a deadline.
Studying how tele-ophthalmology can extend screening, diagnosis, and follow-up to rural, remote, and Indigenous communities where access to eye care is most limited.
Examining why so many Manitobans wait far past the recommended window for sight-restoring surgery, and what system-level changes could help address the backlog.
Get involved.
Our research is just getting started and still taking shape. We’d love to hear from students, residents, clinicians, and anyone interested in ophthalmology research.
Reach out about research →- Research, writing, or data-analysis skills
- Clinical or eye-screening experience
- Time to mentor a student getting started