Heroes of Orbis: Kenneth Youngstein

Breaking boundaries is something that comes naturally to Ken. At just 19, he began his doctoral studies and set off from the UK to Uganda to study the emerging field of primatology.

Ken’s desire to develop a deeper understanding and get to the root of an issue helped him develop a curious mind. And it was this curiosity, coupled with his passion for finding simple, creative solutions to complex problems that brought him into the world of healthcare in the 1970s. Ever since then, Ken has been on a mission to transform the way healthcare education is delivered across the globe, setting up his specialist medical communications company Biocom in 1979.

His globetrotting career presents a dazzling list of accomplishments – from setting up the first ever virology laboratory in Liberia, to transforming patient communication within the organ donation service in New York City. Through all of this, his passion for education, communication and simple solutions shines through.

And in 2012, two worlds collided when Ken met a former Orbis executive at a family event in Europe— four weeks later he was in South Africa working on his first project with our local partners there, creating a training “toolbox” to support health workers deliver care in the community and communicate effectively with their patients.

This was just the beginning for Ken and his work with Orbis. And it was this initial partnership which led to the creation of The Singing Tree—a story book for children, designed to educate and inform communities about eye conditions and how to access sight-saving treatment.

Adapting The Singing Tree for each country entailed more than translating the text. It required completely tailoring the book to each unique cultural setting: the characters, the family, the clothing, the homes, and then translating the text into local dialects. To achieve this, Ken worked closely with local Orbis teams and their partners. They decided that the central character should be a girl, to directly address issues of gender equality in access to healthcare.

“I was surprised that the central storyline worked so well in such diverse cultures and locations, until we got to Mongolia”, says Ken. It seems that there are not many trees in Mongolia. The team had to find a replacement for the singing tree, and one thing Mongolia has plenty of is grass – and grass has grasshoppers. So, in Mongolia, we produced “Tuya and the Talking Grass.”

In addition to the printed books, we have produced animated videos in Spanish, Hindi, and Mongolian, so far.

The images below show school children in Nepal receiving their copies of The Singing Tree as part of our REACH program, which is helping children get the eye care they need.

In pre-COVID times, Ken would be out in the field, delivering training and changing lives through his innovative patient-centred approach to healthcare. During his time with Orbis, he has worked with many of our partners in India, Nepal, Myanmar, China, Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia, South Africa and many more countries to mentor, train and educate whole health teams and transform access to eyecare.

“Ophthalmology is unique” Ken tells us. “You mostly deal with pediatric and geriatric cases (mostly trauma in the age groups in-between), so you are communicating with patients, care givers and decision-makers all at once – need to find ways to do this effectively”.

Using simple solutions is central to Ken’s philosophy—he tells us this is why he created the Eye Book. A simple guide, translated into multiple languages, designed to help health workers communicate with their patients in an informed way so they can understand what their condition is, how it will be treated and what they need to do to save their [or their child/family members] sight.

Over the past year, Ken had been scheduled to visit India, Mongolia, Peru, and Ghana with Orbis—but with the pandemic temporarily halting our face-to-face training, he has been and will continue to draw on his vast experience to deliver bespoke virtual training on patient communication to healthcare teams at Orbis partners in India.

Having already delivered lectures on Cybersight and pioneered the use of digital tools throughout his career to support multiple healthcare education programs, Ken’s vast experience and commitment to sharing his expertise is sure to inspire—and most importantly of all help those who need sight-saving treatment get the care they need.

When asked what he found most rewarding from his 10-year relationship with Orbis, the answer was simple: “The people.” He tells us that it has been such an honor and inspiration to meet the people who make up the Orbis global community: staff, local partners, volunteer surgeons, doctors, nurses, and technicians, the entire staff of the Flying Eye Hospital, and also the patients and their families. "Their dedication and courage never cease to amaze and humble me.”

Throughout the pandemic, the importance of clear and effective communication has become more pressing than ever before—and thanks to Ken, tools such as the Orbis Eye Book and The Singing Tree series of children’s books are helping our dedicated network of volunteers and partners communicate effectively with their patients, spot the signs of avoidable blindness earlier, and deliver the highest standards of patient care.

We are so grateful to Ken, and his wife Ingrid, for being such dedicated members of the Orbis family. Thanks to their support and partnership we have been able to take our education outreach to new heights, helping save more people’s sight around the world.