I travelled on Sunday February 27 to the Dominican Republic, where I met Kelli Nelson, the founder of Island Impact, and the rest of the team (6 eye surgeons, 1 anaesthetist, 3 residents in ophthalmology, 2 residents is anaesthesia, 4 nurses, 1 OR.
The eye surgery and clinical support was again performed at the Ricardo Limardo Public Hospital in Puerto Plata, under an arrangement made by Island Impact. Two operating rooms with three operating tables were made available to the mission along with two rooms set up as an eye clinic. Each day of the mission, Monday through Friday, the Island Impact staff transported us to the hospital early in the morning and returned the team tired but satisfied to the hotel in the evening.
The clinical team (an ophthalmic resident and I) examined hundreds of patients, provided glasses for reading, distance vision and/or for sun protection plus medication to those who needed.
The surgical team performed 86 procedures during the course of the week consisting of eye muscle surgery, pterygium removals, and cataract surgery.
The non-medical team arranged the organisation and transportation of patients, documents and material, as well as the sterilisation of all surgical material. After a busy week the last follow-up work and administrative work was done on Saturday morning and most of us departed from the Dominican Republic on Sunday afternoon. Similar to last year, we had to bring all equipment and supplies needed for operation and eye examination to the hospital. Most of these were donated for a great deal by the ophthalmic community and medical companies. But still we needed more eye glasses, eye drops and patches to help everybody. The material which we did not use was left for the local Island Impact medical personnel and will be also used on near future mission trips to Haiti. As last year, this mission was an unforgettable and satisfying experience for me, which I hope to repeat next year again.
Thanks to Trusetal Verbandstoffwerk GmbH who sponsored this trip for me.
Daisy Godts
Principal orthoptist
Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium
E-mail: daisy.godts@uza.be
Info: www.islandimpact.net / www.casa-de-luz.com
Sponsored by: www.tshs.eu
https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Dom_Rep_2.pdf
