The eyes have it
<p>Dr. Elizabeth Torres fits a patient with glasses.</p>
<p>Dr. Justin StormoGipson and Dr. Rupert Chowins examine a patient’s eyes.</p>
<p>Volunteers from the North Idaho Eye Institute and their accomplices, all with the International Eye Institute, pause for a team photo after their volunteer work in rural Guatemala.</p>
<p>Dr. Anna Shi checks a patient’s pupils.</p>
Volunteers conducted eye exams for more than 250 patients and surgeries for about 30 in the Lake Atitlan area in Guatemala in early June.
Twenty volunteers, mostly from the North Idaho Eye Institute, worked with natives at the hospital in the village of Santiago on a bay in the southwest corner of the lake, in the southwest quarter of the country south of Mexico. Lake Atitlan is surrounded by several volcanoes, and most of the villages are accessed by mountain roads and boats.
The mission trips began in 2002 when doctors Steve Moss and Patrick Parden of Coeur d'Alene and other volunteers went to Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua. Since then teams have gone to Central America at least twice a year. They have seen more than 6,000 patients and done more than 1,260 surgeries.
Joining in 2004 and going many times since, Dr. Justin StormoGipson alone has done more than 400 surgeries.
The surgeries primarily are for cataracts (cloudy lenses that lead to blindness), conjunctiva (the clear part covering the eye that when clouded by dust or ultraviolet exposure can obstruct vision) and DCR (a procedure to clear obstructed drainage from the eye through the nose). Most of the patients are having eye exams to determine if they need glasses.
Glasses and medications are provided free. Patients are asked to pay a small fee for exams to help the hospital stay solvent. If they can't, it's covered by the International Eye Institute, which was created in 2011. This also helps with supplies and medications and gets help from local donations, Americares, Ansel Group, Alcon, Bausch & Lomb and charitable groups in New Orleans, the home of some team members.
The patients primarily speak Mayan languages and some Spanish. The hospital staff helps with translations. The upcoming clinics are advertised through word of mouth, signs posted in town and a few radio ads.
Team members pay their own airfare, room and food. Several participate twice a year. Joining the team this month were StormoGipson, Mary and Steve Sibulsky, Julie Crandall, Karen Sines, Amy Wilhelm, Kathy Teall, Chad Taylor, Nuria Martinez and Mary and Nils Rosdahl, all of Coeur d'Alene; Carrie Foshee of Vancouver, Wash.; Anna Teal of Boise; Barb Baker of Chewelah, Wash.; Sharo Lindley of Spokane; Rupert Chowins and Elizabeth Torres of San Louis Obispo, Calif.; and Pulin Shah, Anna Shi and Sokheun Chau of New Orleans.
Extra medical help on this trip was provided by Nuria Martinez, an anesthetist who helped with an emergency Caesarian section of a baby in respiratory distress and traveled by ambulance to Guatemala City (seven hours round trip).
Dr. David Dance will lead a Coeur d'Alene team this fall. Donations are welcome through the International Eye Institute (www.internationaleyeinstitute.org) and locally with supplies and organizing through Mary Sibulsky (mary@sibulsky.com).