BUCYRUS—A Bucyrus optometrist is ready to embark on the mission of a lifetime.
Dr. Sarah Nigh-Bruner, an optometrist with Ohio Eye Associates, leaves Jan. 7 for Merida, Mexico, where she will join 32 other volunteers from Medical Missions Outreach in providing much-needed health care to hundreds of residents in the Yucatan Peninsula.
“I’m actually really, really excited but nervous at the same time,” said Nigh-Bruner, a 42-year-old Bucyrus native. “Nervous and blessed. That’s how I feel. My biggest hang-up is leaving my kids for that long.”
Nigh-Bruner is the only optometrist on the mission trip, which includes a team of professionals and volunteers for both optical and medical. Clinics, she said, will be held daily from 8 a.m. to around 6 p.m. in remote villages outside the populated capital of Merida.
In addition to performing routine eye exams, Nigh-Bruner said she will be fitting patients for prescription glasses, all of which are all donated through an eyeglass recycling program run by Medical Missions Outreach. The optical lines, she said, are always long.
An ophthalmologist will also join the eight-member optical team, whose mission is to share the love of Christ using the tools of medicine. “I’m excited to provide care to them,” she said. “I think we take it for granted in the U.S. how easily we can get health care.”
Nigh-Bruner said she first signed up with the McDonough, Georgia-based organization prior to the COVID-19 pandemic because she “always wanted to give back.” But two trips – one to the Philippines and another in 2021 to Jamaica – were canceled due to COVID.
Overall, she managed to raise $3,700 for the humanitarian effort with support from Ohio Eye Associates and the fund-raising skills of her 14-year-old daughter, Brynn, who made and sold dog treats and cake pops last year to net over $1,400 for the cause.
The Colonel Crawford graduate, who married her high school sweetheart, Jake Bruner, earned a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 2002. She graduated from O.S.U.’s College of Optometry in 2006 and worked at Club View Vision in Bucyrus before joining Ohio Eye.
Nigh-Bruner said she’s packing her own scrubs as well as Tylenol and allergy medicine to have on hand.
Brynn and her brothers, Kaden and Trey, have also collected trinkets for their mom to pass out to the children, including bouncy eyeballs and Dum-Dum suckers.
The group, she said, will have one free day to explore the Mayan Ruins before returning on Jan. 15. “I feel lucky that I get to go on this trip, especially since it’s been a long haul to get to this point. I definitely think it will be life-changing for me, and I hope it’s the first of many.”