Expanding Vistas in Vision Care at Manos Amigas
Much has been going on this year in vision care at the Manos Amigas Clinic: new equipment, continued partnerships, and new partnerships all are contributing to better vision care for people in Honduras struggling with their eyesight.
Laser Technology Opens New Opportunities for Eye Patients
Medical innovations seemingly take place every day, but some of them are slow to reach parts of the developing world where the need is great. Talented teams come to the Manos Amigas clinic every year and with their arrival, ideas are exchanged, and new possibilities emerge.
At long last the clinic now has an operative Lumenis Selecta Duet SLT/YAG laser that enables laser therapies for addressing cataracts and treating glaucoma. The YAG is a special laser that is used after cataract surgery to improve vision and eliminate any remaining lens fragment that could cause complications. The laser treatment is applied on the scar tissue that sometimes forms behind a lens implant after surgery.
What Does the YAG Laser Do?
Essentially the laser makes an opening in the posterior capsule of the lens allowing light to pass through to the retina. This instrument gives the clinic many more options for procedures. It is helpful in reducing fuzziness or clouding of a membrane in the back part of the eye which sometimes results in patients seeing halos around lighted objects like traffic signals or streetlights. The laser is used in the treatment for capsule thickening and helps address wrinkling in the lens capsule. The instrument is also of great value with glaucoma patients to relieve eye pressure that builds up and restores the flow of fluid to the front of the eye.
VHI Partnership Continues
Vision Health International (VHI) has been a valued partner at the Manos Amigas Clinic for more than 10 years. VHI is known for its high-quality eye care in areas of the developing world. Having these teams in attendance at the clinic is a blessing for patients.
VHI sent a team to Manos Amigas in late January and another one in May. The January team of eight included three eye specialists: Dr. David Khorram, a global ophthalmologist from University of Virginia, Dr. Randy Rottman from Colorado, and Dr. William Meyers from Northwestern University. They were assisted by Nancy Burns, Matt Freeborn, Teri Junge, Dawn Marcotte and Karin Nason. Together, this team provided 70 small incision cataract surgeries, 5 glaucoma procedures, 11 pterygiums, and 22 YAG laser surgeries. The team in May performed 50 oculoplastic and strabismus surgeries, which is an eye alignment procedure for children and adults. They also did 79 eye exams, and provided 50 pairs of sunglasses to patients.
The surgeries VHI performs has both financial and emotional impact.
Sergio is 31 years old and hasn’t been able to work because he couldn’t see well. Karen, the Manos Amigas optometrist, evaluated him and determined he needed a very special lens for his cataract surgery. VHI was able to procure the lens and send it down with the January VHI team. Sergio will now be able to work again.
This sweet girl below was bullied because her eyes weren’t straight. Strabismus is a disorder in which both eyes do not line up in the same direction, and thus don’t look at the same object at the same time. Strabismus surgery loosens or tightens the eye muscles, depending on the affliction, which usually realigns the eyes into the correct position.
New Partnerships Being Formed
Honduran Ophthalmologist Provides Post-op Follow-up Care
Dra. Dayana Urbina
Follow-up or post-surgical care of patients is essential after cataract surgery. There is a shortage of ophthalmologists in Honduras, but we are fortunate that Dra. Dayana Urbina, one of the few retinal specialists in San Pedro Sula, has agreed to come to the clinic to examine and address patients’ post operative healing.
Wake Forest University Medical School Department of Ophthalmology and Fraternidad Hospital Provide Vision Care at Manos Amigas
Wake Forest University Medical School Department of Ophthalmology has an existing partnership with the Fraternidad Hospital in San Pedro Sula. In December, four eye surgeons from Wake Forest University Medical School and the CEO of the Fraternidad Hospital visited the Manos Amigas Clinic to determine the feasibility of operating there in the future.
The CEO also offered to train some Manos Amigas staff members for surgical eye care at the hospital in San Pedro Sula. This year, from March to May, nurses Melissa Castillo and Asalia Castro attended training and earned their ophthalmic instrumentalist certificate.
June 13 and 14, a team from Wake Forest, working with Manos Amigas optometrist, Karen Murillo, physician Dr. David, and the newly trained nurses, performed 19 cataract surgeries at Manos Amigas. This team included ophthalmologists Matt Giegengack, Levi Kauffman, Michael Evans, Dominic Prado, Sam Carpentier, Frances de la Camara, and medical student Harrison Huang. We are grateful for this emerging partnership and the increase in the number of patients who will receive the gift of sight as a result.
Providence Presbytery, South Carolina Partners to Provide Vision Care for the Municipality of Trinidad
Providence Presbytery, encompassing Chester, Kershaw, Lancaster, Union, and York Counties in South Carolina has partnered with Serving at the Crossroads to provide vision care for residents in the municipality of Trinidad located 35 minutes from La Entrada. The Presbytery had originally hoped to establish their own eye program at a government-run clinic in that rural community of 5,000 people, but the Covid pandemic interrupted plans for the completion of the project. Recognizing the prevailing circumstances and the bureaucratic hurdles ahead of them, realigned their New Vision in Honduras Project to become a part of the vision care program at Manos Amigas. The New Vision program provides for free cataract surgeries at the Manos Amigas clinic for residents of their community who cannot financially afford the procedure along with eye examinations and glasses.
International Hope Builders Provides a Tonometer
International Hope Builders donated a tonometer to the Manos Amigas clinic. This equipment is used to measure the intraocular pressure of the eye and will be beneficial for our patients.
Life Changing Impact
None of these activities could have taken place without the selfless gifts of time, talent and donations from our partners. But the real impact is felt by each person that these vision care professionals touch. Almost 60% of the patients report their poor vision keeps them from working. When asked what they were looking forward to doing with better vision, their replies covered a myriad of tasks that those of us with sight often take for granted as well as thoughts of gratitude and giving back.
I am going to . . . work, read, give thanks to God, take care of myself, drive,
walk without assistance, maintain my home, go to church, collect firewood,
pray study, read the Bible, do God's work, bake bread, sew, make tortillas,
see sunlight, cook, do more around the house, care for my husband,
DO EVERYTHING BETTER!Cataract Surgery Patients
Your support of Serving at the Crossroads makes all this possible.