AMIGOS Eye Care Joins Forces with Enfoque Ixcán
In 2003, Dr. Pike began working with an education supervisor in the Ixcán named Apolonio Gonzales who had over 60 schools – 4,000 students – under his supervision. None of those young people had regular vision care. This concerned Gonzales who knew how important vision is to learning and he wanted to create a vision care program for his students.
To address this problem, Dr. Pike launched an annual trip to the Ixcán with AMIGOS Eye Care, optometry students from Pacific University College of Optometry in Forest Grove, OR where at that time Dr. Pike served as an assistant professor. Since the partnership was created, each Amigos group has spent a week visiting village schools in the far reaches of the Ixcán, checking eyes and dispensing glasses to children and adults alike. As of 2025, AMIGOS has made 22 visits and have examined 17,697 people, dispensed over 7,886 pairs of glasses, and identified over 560 people needing cataract surgeries.
- Learn more about AMIGOS on their Web site.
- Take a 6-1/2 minute video trip with the 2010 Amigos!
- Read an article “The Little Boy in the Red Shirt” by Grace H. Anderson, a 2017 Amigo
Slideshow of AMIGOS teams throughout the years!
The students produced this video to give you a taste of what their week was like.
In August 2022 nine Amigos Eye Care students from Pacific University traveled with Enfoque Ixcán to Guatemala for our 18th joint mission trip serving the people of Ixcán, Guatemala. In their 4 days of clinics they saw 755 patients and dispensed 334 pairs of glasses. They also diagnosed over 55 people needing cataract surgeries. Many of these people will be traveling with Enfoque Ixcán’s eye health promoters within the next month, to the Guatemalan eye clinic where their cataract surgeries will be performed.
Your donations help keep this program moving forward. THANK YOU!