Last month Enfoque Ixcán and Amigos Eye Care completed their 17th mission trip to Ixcán, Guatemala, in as many years. It was another successful trip!
In 4 days of clinics the team examined 803 people and dispensed 435 pairs of glasses. We also gave out dozens of artificial tears samples. Most of these people work in dusty, smokey, windy conditions, so dry eye symptoms are extremely common. To reduce their exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, we dispensed about 300 pairs of sunglasses.
The patients’ ages ranged from less than a year to 88 years old. Two of the days’ work were located at schools in remote villages and the other 2 days were at our centrally located base where we saw mostly adults.
Nearly 40 people were identified as needing cataract surgeries and 20 of this group have already traveled to a Guatemalan eye clinic to have the surgery performed. That’s 20 people who have had their sight restored.
Funds from our generous donors paid for these surgeries. THANK YOU!
I would like to thank the following doctors, students and other volunteers who made this such an enjoyable success:
Doctors Jessica Lynch, Faye Gamboa, Mark Price and Craig Bowen.
Students Rachel Bush, Ross Carley, Amy Niedfield, Krista Ballard, Andrew Price, Milena Stefanovic, Monica Baradi, and Amir Ghanipour.
Super volunteers Aiden Lynch and Jason Anderson.
In 17 years we have had 204 volunteers make this trip and twenty-seven have made the trip more than once. We have had 128 Pacific University students volunteer their vacation time and use their own funds to make this important humanitarian mission trip.
Enfoque Ixcán and the wonderful people of Ixcán, Guatemala, thank you!