Haitians See Results of Mission Trip Local Physician and Staff Provide Free Surgery & Eye Care on Mission Trip
FORT MYERS, FL November 5, 2008) – Hundreds of Haiti residents can see better today because of the good work of a local ophthalmologist and his staff. Rick Palmon, M.D. and two of his staff at Southwest Florida Eye Care recently completed a week-long mission trip to St. Louis du Nord in Haiti with a team of eye care providers from across the nation. The three members of Southwest Florida Eye Care were the only local people on the trip.
The trip was coordinated by Northwest Haiti Christian Mission which schedules trips of health providers each month to this poor island nation. The physicians saw 800 patients in the clinic during the week and performed 115 surgeries for cataracts and corneal disease, plus completed an additional 100 laser treatments for glaucoma and other eye problems. Four hundred pairs of donated eyeglasses were dispensed. Eye care is hard to come by in this hurricane-racked country, especially in small towns like St. Louis du Nord.
“There are two Haitian ophthalmologists who travel to the village to provide follow-up care after the surgeries, but no routine care is available,” Rick Palmon. M.D. explained. “Many of the patients walked for miles in the hope of seeing a doctor and having eye surgery. It was heartbreaking that we couldn’t get to all of them, but time did not permit. All we could do is tell them come back next year.” This is Palmon’s second mission trip to Haiti. A team of physicians organized by a surgeon from Kansas City have been providing free eye on an annual trip to the island nation for more than 10 years. “All of the services, all of the equipment, the corneal tissue, everything was donated. We had to arrange our own transportation and slept in tents and barracks.”
Surgery was performed in a modest operating room. To accommodate the dozens of surgical procedures that needed to be performed, three operating tables were set up in the one room. “The surgeries were more difficult that what I am accustomed to in my Fort Myers practice. We didn’t have access to the most up-to-date equipment and some of the cataracts were the most severe I’ve ever seen.” Cataracts are a medical condition in which the lens inside the eye becomes cloudy. It’s a common ailment as a person ages, but in the U.S. cataracts are removed long before they become hardened. Not so in a poor village in Haiti that does not have an eye doctor routinely available to its residents.
Jamie Casey and Melanie Vianest, ophthalmic assistants with Southwest Florida Eye Care joined Palmon on the trip and assisted him in the operating room. They were touched by how happy the patients were, despite the hard circumstances of their lives. “When you have good vision and when you live in a country like ours that has so much, it’s hard to comprehend the disadvantages associated with not be able to see when food is scarce, how much you depend on your vision to see to eat.” Casey said. “The patients were so grateful that we were there and despite the hard circumstances of their lives they were very happy.”
The highlight of Palmon’s trip was two young girls he treated who were virtually blind. He performed the first corneal transplants done in Haiti in more than 25 years. The lack of an eye bank to harvest and store corneas meant they had to be donated from the Tampa Lions Eye Bank and transported by hand to Haiti. “The two sisters, 3 and 4 years old, were basically blind. They could see a hand motion directly in front of their face but their corneas were so clouded they could see nothing else.” Palmon transplanted a new corneal onto one eye of each of the children. “It was gratifying to see the smiles on their faces later in the week. What a joy it is to provide vision to these children who have so little.” Palmon is experienced in participating in mission trips; he’s travelled to Haiti once before and also to China, Mongolia and the Philippines. “It’s a drop in the bucket as far as need goes, Palmon said but I’m happy to do my little part.”
ABOUT SOUTHWEST FLORIDA EYE CARE:
Southwest Florida Eye Care is a full-service eye care medical practice offering comprehensive eye exams for all ages and specializing in cataract and glaucoma evaluations and treatment; treatment for corneal eye disease; LASIK laser vision correction; eyeglasses and contact lenses; and emergency eye care. The physicians associated with the practice include Rick Palmon, M.D.; Richard Glasser, M.D.; Brian Marhue, O.D.; Penny J. Orr, O.D.; and Leonard Avril, O.D. Offices are located in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Naples. More information is available at http://www.swfleye.com/
