For the 13th consecutive year Amigos Eye Care, from Pacific University, teamed up with Enfoque Ixcán for a very successful mission trip to Ixcán, Guatemala. Everyone at Enfoque Ixcán is grateful and extends a big “Thank You” to the students on this year’s trip: The team leaders – Tori Kennedy and Shaun Waayenburg, from the class of 2016, and from the optometry class of 2018; Rebecca Chun, Maggie Fuentes, Danielle
One happy patient with Dr. Brian
Guenet and Stephanie Norberg. We were fortunate to also have Elena Fuentes with us who provided invaluable Spanish translation skills.
The doctors on this year’s trip were all former student travelers: Dr. Nina Nemetz, ’09. Dr. Chris Nisbet, ’13 and Dr. Brian Arvidson, ’07. This was Brian’s 9th trip to Ixcán and the 33rd trip for me.
In our 4 days of clinics we saw over 1119 people and dispensed 325 pairs of glasses. We also identified 32 people needing eye surgeries, including 28 for cataract surgeries and 2 with suspected glaucoma.
Most of these people have been scheduled to go to our referral eye clinic five hours away to have their conditions treated. These surgeries are paid for by our generous donors. They deserve a heartfelt “Thank you” as well.
Felipe using his new Heine ophthalmoscope 360x
Our eye health promoter, Felipe, has been receiving ongoing training in identifying and referring patients for cataracts surgeries. To help in this training, Heine North America, a manufacturer of high quality ophthalmic instruments, donated an ophthalmoscope for Felipe to use in his work. Felipe is quite pleased and started using the instrument immediately.
It was a successful trip with many people to thank, and with many thankful people.
Scott Pike
Enfoque Ixcán