MISSION REPORT

YEGUARIZO, PARAGUAY 2008

The Country:

Paraguay is a landlocked country surrounded by Argentina, Bolivia, e Brasile. It has a population of 6.5 million with more than one-third of its population living in poverty. The people of Paraguay are of mixed Spanish and Guarani Indian descent. Guarani and Spanish are the official languages of the country.

The Clinic:

The Clyde E. Bay Foundation was inaugurated in 1999 in Paraguay, South America. Clyde E. Bay and his wife, Celmira (Ellie) Bay utilized their life savings to start the medical clinic. In 2003, Clyde passed away leaving Ellie as Director of the clinic. Ellie is a registered nurse and retired from working for the Peace Corp in Paraguay. Since its opening, the foundation has grown and expanded to offer its services in general medicine, dentistry, gynecology, mental health, pediatrics, emergency medical transport services, and pharmacy. The foundation also has two technical nursing schools.

The Team:

Charles Covington, Mission Leader, è originario della Virginia, ma ora vive a Lake Mary, FL. He has two daughters, ha la sua, e sette nipoti; vivono in Sanford, FL, Brookline, MA, and Langley, VA. Prima di andare in pensione, Charlie ha lavorato come ispettore postale per l'U. S. Postal Inspection Service and Auditor for the American Automobile Association. He is a member of Silver Springs, Florida Lions Club, Treasurer of VOSH International and a Director on the VOSH Southeast Board. Charlie co-founded the VOSH Southeast Chapter with John Gehrig and Harold Babine in 1996 and has led missions to Croatia, Bulgaria (2), Hungary, Repubblica Dominicana (2), Perù, Paraguay (4), Vietnam, Ethiopia and Cameroon and also participated in missions to Brazil, Romania, Ucraina, Messico, e Perù.

Dr. John Spencer, our tireless clinic director, graduated from the Illinois College of Optometry. He is an optometrist with Allina in West St. Paul, Minnesota where he practices in a multi-specialty group setting. Dr. Spencer has been on many VOSH missions and will continue to participate in many more in the months and years to come. This trip was especially special for him because he was accompanied by his daughter, Marie.

Dr. Nelson Rivera graduated from the Interamerican University School of Optometry in Puerto Rice in 1996. He now lives in Dallas, TX, but is originally from Puerto Rico. He has been on the VOSH International Board since 2005 and has always wanted to go on a Charlie Covington mission, but he could never afford it. Tuttavia, this time he had to go to Buenos Aires for the International Association for Prevention of Blindness Congress (IAPB) and when Charlie changed his mission date, it was one week before his meeting, so it was perfect timing that he was able to fly to Paraguay early along with Laura Brusi from the VOSH UNLP (Argentina) Chapter. Dr. Rivera had several memorable patients, ma uno dei più memorabili era un ragazzo di otto anni che aveva bisogno di una prescrizione spettacolo di OD -4.50 e OS -3.75 e quando gli diede un paio che era ragionevole, il ragazzo era tutto sorrisi dopo.

Hunter Hill è un optometrista dalla Nuova Zelanda e vive in una piccola città chiamata Alexandra. Quando non è in funzione, egli è in ripresa le mele dal suo frutteto fare 'Papa Hill e mela biologica del Figlio di sidro.' Hunter aveva sempre voluto visitare il Sud America e durante una missione VOSH con Charlie, Giovanni, e Cookie in Camerun, ha sentito parlare del viaggio in Paraguay e fatto in modo che ci stava per essere coinvolto. There were many memorable moments from the trip for Hunter from the “swamp” lady who was the happiest patient that he had ever seen after receiving a pair of +1.25 spectacles to all the inspiring efforts of the Peace Corps translators. Hunter will definitely be returning for the next Paraguay mission.

Laura Brusi is an optometrist and professor at the Faculty of Exact Sciences (National University of La Plata) Argentina. She is the VOSH director of the school’s chapter UNLP-Cs Exactas and she serves as director of a project called “Visual Health for All.” “Visual Health for All” is comprised of students, professors, and community leaders that work together as a team to provide visual care to communities with limited resources. Da 2007, the students have practiced their professional skills for the service of others and have held prevention workshops for people. As if Laura were not busy enough, she also manages to have a private optometry practice as well. She really enjoyed the Paraguay mission and would like to give her thanks for everything.

Alvina Bissoon is from Calgary, Alberta Canada and is an ophthalmic technician at the Gimbel Eye Center. Her desire to serve others and utilize her skills gave her the motivation to join VOSH. She will always remember the feeling of experiencing how grateful all the patients were.

Beverly Curtis is a retired elementary school teacher, mother of two daughters, and grandmother of four. This mission to Paraguay was her second. Her first mission was in 1997 to Hungary and Croatia with VOSH Southeast. It was Dr. John Spencer’s first mission and Charlie was there too. She found the differences between the two trips to be astounding. Back in Hungary and Croatia, she remembers moving from village to village. Sometimes it was three villages a day and the group slept in a different place each night. There was never a hotel, but there was school dormitory, a private home, and a farm house with an outhouse so this was vastly different for her.

Caryl Mikrut (Biscotto) is a retired elementary school teacher, mother of five, nonna di sette, and recent widow. Her first mission was in 1997 to Hungary and Croatia and she has been going on VOSH missions ever since. She tries to get in at least two or more missions each year. This would be her third time to Paraguay and second to the Clyde E. Bay Clinic. She was interested to see how much Ellie has improved and enlarged the clinic. On a trip a couple of years ago to Ethiopia, there had only been three students and they spent a majority of the time with the doctors. So this time, having all of the “kids” out and about was a fantastic help especially in dispensing. She couldn’t imagine how they would have survived without the students’ help especially with Dr. John being the slave driver that he was. She got the ten year Paraguay Argentina visa, so she imagines that she would be back again as she finds it hard to say “no.”

SuEllen Brauer is a retired mathematics teacher from Decatur, Illinois. She participated in the VOSH Southeast mission at the Clyde E. Bay Clinic in 2005 and also participated in the VOSH Kentucky mission in Asuncion in 2006 in which Ellie Bay had coordinated all of the details of the mission. SuEllen was anxious to do this mission to see all that this amazing woman had accomplished at the clinic. Since being there in 2005, there had been many additions to the clinic such as an operating room, delivery room, as well as a nursing school being built and started. This was a particularly special mission having 12 optometry students involved.

Jerry and Joni Arvidson have lived all their lives in South St. Paul, Minnesota. They have been married for 51 anni, have four grown sons and eight grandchildren that all live nearby. Jerry served as District Governor for Lions International in 1990-91. As all Governors do, he reported quarterly how many used eyeglasses were collected in his district. At one of those meetings, he asked the question, “What happens to all those glasses that are collected?” He laughs now and says, “The next thing we knew, we were in Nicaragua.” They have been members of VOSH Minnesota since then. As the years passed, they yearned to connect with other VOSH chapters (families) and decided to join VOSH Southeast to Paraguay. They have done missions in Central America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa and this trip to Paraguay was their 15th mission. They always say that VOSH has changed their lives and most importantly, VOSH has changed millions of lives around the world.

Joanna Starmack (Jo) is an optician who works Allina Meical Clinics in Minnesota alongside Dr. John Spencer. This trip was her first VOSH mission trip. After hearing all the wonderful things that Dr. Spencer had to say about VOSH, ha deciso di andare in un viaggio e ha scelto il Paraguay come suo primo viaggio, ma speriamo non l'ultimo.

Marie Spencer attualmente vive ed è originario di St. Paul, MN. Divenne interessati ad andare a Paraguay quando suo padre, John Spencer, il direttore della clinica le aveva detto sulle sue precedenti esperienze con le missioni VOSH. Lei aveva preso in considerazione di andare con lui in un precedente missione in Camerun. Tuttavia, lei non ha fatto quel viaggio, ma era molto felice di avere l'opportunità di andare in Paraguay. L'esperienza più memorabile per lei è stato sempre di conoscere tutti e aiutare tutti i pazienti.

Ian Beaumont è cresciuto a Franklin, Manitoba Canada ed è uno studente del terzo anno presso la Illinois College of Optometry. E 'stato sposato dal 2003 ed è padre di due ragazze. Dopo la laurea, ha in programma di tornare in Manitoba alla pratica di optometria. Ian ha sempre voluto fare un viaggio VOSH ancora prima di applicare a scuola di optometria. In 2002, sua madre era in un viaggio di missione in Perù dove ha assistito oftalmologi in interventi di cataratta. Le sue esperienze hanno alimentato il suo desiderio di andare in un viaggio simile. Ora che Ian sa che cosa un viaggio VOSH è come, lui sarà sicuramente continuare ad andare.

Anne Eng è da Calgary, Alberta Canada ed è uno studente del terzo anno presso la Illinois College of Optometry. Andando su un viaggio di missione era sempre stato nella lista di Anna di "To-Do di." L'iscrizione per la missione VOSH-Paraguay è stato sicuramente per un capriccio per lei. Lei ammette che l'entità della sua conoscenza del Paraguay inizialmente è stata limitata a quale continente principale risiedeva all'interno. Tuttavia, the amazing experience was much more than she had hoped for and she is thankful for her impulsiveness because it gave her the opportunity to travel to the amazing country. She will remember most the gratitude of all the patients. The appreciation that they showed towards her has led her to realize how fortunate she is to be receiving an education that gives her an invaluable gift of knowledge and skills to be able to universally help the quality of life of others. She is thankful to have met all the wonderful individuals on the Paraguay mission team and looks forward to future missions!

Amanda Kunowski is a second year student at the Waterloo School of Optometry located just an hour west of Toronto, Canada where she is from. She knew that she really wanted to go on a mission during some point of her academic career and decided that she was ready and eager to help after her first year of optometry school. She chose Paraguay for a number of reasons, which included that the mission was well organized, located in a safe area, and the team was made of many experienced volunteers and doctors. Most of her favorite memories came from working in the dispensary. Seeing the patients’ immediate happiness and appreciation showed her that the hard work of all of the mission volunteers will be remembered for years to come.

Shirley Oga is from California and is a third year student at the Illinois College of Optometry. The Paraguay mission was a great experience for her. Vedere i pazienti essere così apprezzare i bicchieri sono stati dati era uno dei suoi ricordi più belli. Lei ei suoi colleghi si sono riuniti come una squadra e legato come hanno visto centinaia di pazienti. Arrivare a incontrare e lavorare con tutti che faceva parte della missione è stata un piacere. Vide la missione VOSH in Paraguay come un'opportunità per acquisire esperienza in un diverso tipo di ambiente clinico. Quello che ha guadagnato è stato molto di più, perché si allontanava dal viaggio con un senso di scopo, servizio, e orgoglio per la professione che aveva scelto di perseguire.

Sonny Parikh è uno studente del terzo anno presso la Illinois College of Optometry a Chicago, Illinois ed è originario di Skokie, IL. One of the main reasons why he wanted to go on this mission was to really help the people who were in dire need of eye care. He really loved the aspect of dispensing glasses to patients during the mission because he witnessed the payoff of all the hard work that was being accomplished. The smile on the patient’s face when they received their glasses was worth a million dollars. The mission trip really opened his eyes to how important it is to give back to people that are less fortunate. He would definitely do a VOSH mission again!

Darshana Patel is a third year student at the Illinois College of Optometry and is originally from Indianapolis, IN. When she originally signed up for this trip, she had hopes of being able to not only learn more educationally, ma anche più di altre persone e culture. Questo viaggio è sceso a dir poco queste aspettative e in realtà di gran lunga superato le. in Paraguay, era in grado di vedere molte sorprendenti casi clinici che non ha mai pensato che lei avrebbe incontrato. La gratitudine che i pazienti avevano era incredibile. Un uomo particolare era così eccitato semplicemente perché era in grado di ottenere un paio di lenti bifocali, quando si aspettava solo un paio per la lettura. Interagendo con le persone, era in grado di conoscere meglio la cultura e la lingua del Paraguay che avrebbe mai preso in mano altrimenti. Il lavoro di squadra del gruppo impressionato Darshana. Una memoria che lei non potrà mai dimenticare il viaggio sarebbe tutte le risate ogni notte che ha condiviso con i suoi nuovi amici. E 'venuta durante il viaggio di missione non sapendo molti che bene ed è venuto fuori sensazione che ha acquisito una nuova famiglia. Lei aspetta il si spera di ottenere la possibilità di lavorare con le stesse persone in una futura missione.

Hetal Patel è uno studente del terzo anno presso la Illinois College of Optometry originario di Toronto, Ontario Canada. Il motivo per cui voleva fare questa missione era perché sapeva che stava per essere una grande esperienza di apprendimento e voleva approfittare di questa occasione per servire le persone meno privilegiate che hanno bisogno di assistenza sanitaria occhio. Ha trovato che il viaggio le ha dato la possibilità di incontrare nuove persone e per conoscere le loro vite. Ogni giorno era una nuova ed entusiasmante avventura. E 'stato un onore per lei lavorare con i volontari dei Corpi di Pace, Ellie, the staff and students at the clinic to give back to their communities and John, Charlie and the rest of the volunteers who dedicated their time to try to make the world a better place with each trip that they go on. Everyone was a pleasure to work with and she is grateful for all that she was taught because she learned so much. Paraguay was her first VOSH mission, but she can guarantee that it will not be her last.

Neal Patel is a second year at the University of Waterloo Optometry from New Brunswick, Canada. He chose to do a VOSH mission in order to increase his knowledge in the field of ocular disease and optometry and to help a community that was in need of eye care. For Neal, this was an incredible trip that held many memorable experiences working with the doctors and fellow students in diagnosing and treating patients in need.

Craig Pew is originally from Texas and a third year student at the Illinois College of Optometry. He had always wanted to go on a mission trip ever since starting school at ICO and Paraguay seemed like a great opportunity. His favorite clinical case was a man who had a posterior synechia along with a massive cataract. The patient was nervous because all the students wanted to look at his eyes. He became worried and nervous that something awful was probably happening to him and he started to become emotional and cry. Craig was sympathetic and relieved his anxiety by telling him that he was going to be fine and referred him to the ophthalmologist. Despite the scare that the student’s actions gave him, the patient was really grateful for the care that he received. This case gave Craig the opportunity to experience a more personal interaction with a patient and get a sense of the Paraguayan culture.

Mailynn Pham is from Lawndale, California and is a third year student at the Illinois College of Optometry. She had wanted to do a VOSH mission trip even before she was accepted into optometry school. Tuttavia, she was actually apprehensive the night before she was to leave to go on the trip. After meeting all the team members of the trip, all her anxieties were diminished. She realized that she was on the trip with the purpose of working together with others to help those in need of eye care. The trip to Paraguay was very special and memorable for her. She will always carry in her heart the kindness, love, and compassion that her Paraguayan “family” not only showed to the patients, but to each other as well. The dedication that she witnessed every day in Paraguay really resonated in her and she is sure that it will continue to even after much time has passed since the end of the trip.

Paul Rollett is from Calgary, AB, Canada and is a second year student at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry. Paul has personally always been very interested in and passionate about the opportunities that optometry creates for assistance in the developing world. There are not that many professions that allows a person to take a week out of ones schedule and use ones skills to make a tangible difference in the world. Paul was intrigued by the Paraguay mission in particular because of the opportunity that it presented to work on his Spanish as well as work with a team that appeared to be very well organized. His favorite memory of the clinic would have to be the kindness that was imparted to him on his birthday. It was very unexpected to get acknowledged and it meant a lot to be treated so well by our hosts and the team members.

Michelle Wong is originally from El Paso, Texas and is a third year student at the Illinois College of Optometry. The reason why she came on this trip was because she wanted in some way to give back and see what it would be like to serve others through optometry. Her favorite part of this mission was being able to witness true love. It was truly special to see people bringing in their neighbors from afar to receive an eye exam. Experiencing true humbling hospitality and love from our hosts is something she will never forget. The most memorable part of the mission was on a night when two women from a nearby town came and performed their cultural dances for the volunteers. One of the dancers handed Charlie a little flag at the end of the dance and what it represented was moving and embodied what this whole trip was about. Her hope for this trip was to be forever changed, questo è stato compiuto ed è grata per tutti i ricordi.

Il nostro inizio:

quattro aeroporti, tre piani, una corsa in autobus, e più di 24 ore dopo, la nostra squadra arriva al Clyde E. Bay clinica in Paraguay agosto 16, 2008. Dopo aver ricevuto le nostre assegnazione delle camere e sistemazione, Ellie, il nostro ospite meraviglioso ci ha fornito con la cena accompagnata con la bella musica dal vivo suonata da due persone che giocano arpa e chitarra.

Il set up:

First, i pazienti hanno dovuto compilare un modulo che ha incluso alcune informazioni di base per quanto riguarda le loro condizioni sistemiche, e poi sono stati registrati e assegnato un numero. Avrebbero iniziare in una stanza in cui sono state prese e registrato le loro acuità visiva. Beverly sarebbe poi accompagnare e guidare il popolo finito con la stanza acuità visiva a Charlie nella stanza auto-rifrazione. Da lì, the decision would be made whether or not the patient needed to be dilated or not. This was decided upon the patient’s positive history of diabetes, hypertension, glaucoma, or if their refractive error did not correlate to their visual acuities. If the patient was not to be dilated, they were directed to either Dr. Spencer or Hunter or to Dr. Rivera’s and Laura’s room. A quick history would be taken, retinoscopy for a spectacle prescription, and to exam ocular health, we used direct ophthalmoscopy to view the fundus. If anything suspicious was seen then the patient was directed to Alvina in the dilating room. If the decision was made to dilate initially, the patient was directed to Alvina’s room where intraocular pressures would be taken and drops of tropicamide instilled to dilate so that a wider picture of the fundus could be seen. Most patients walked out with a spectacle prescription and would wait in the courtyard for Cookie, Joni, and Jerry to dispense the spectacles. Adjustments to the spectacles were accomplished by Jo and SuEllen. Ian, Craig, Sonny, Mailynn, Michelle, Shirley, Anne, Darshana, Hetal, Amanda, Neal, Marie, and Paul had morning and afternoon rotations to either take visual acuities, auto-refract, see patients who were dilated, see patients with Dr. Spencer or Hunter, or was in the dispensary. The first day of clinic, translators included Ellie, her daughter Laura, Jose (Laura’s cousin), and a family of four from Asuncion who knew Ellie. volontari dei Corpi di Pace è venuto per aiutare a tradurre ed erano di grande aiuto il resto dei nostri giorni clinica. I loro servizi sono stati preziosi.

avvenimenti Clinic (la prospettiva di uno studente):

August 17, 2008: Giorno 1

La nostra squadra era alzato presto, come la colazione era alle 7 del mattino e avevamo ancora per completare l'impostazione prima clinica ha aperto alle 8 del mattino. Come abbiamo attraversato il cortile dalla clinica e zona notte a mangiare, con nostra sorpresa, C'erano molte persone già in attesa di essere visto da noi. Avevamo appena iniziato clinica quella mattina, quando un giovanissimo piangere e urlare ragazzo è stato portato dalla madre. sull'osservazione, un occhio era rosso, la palpebra gonfia e quindi il ragazzo non poteva aprire gli occhi a causa dell'edema pronunciata. La madre ha rivelato che il ragazzo era stato graffiato da un gatto, but only recently was the eye painful. There was also a mucopurulent discharge. Everything suggested that it was a preceptal cellulits, which is a bacterial infection of the eye anterior to the orbital septum so the patient was given Vigamox (broad spectrum antibiotic). If there was no improvement in two days, the patient was told to come back. This young boy set the tone of how clinic was going to be. It was going to be long, difficult, educational, but very rewarding. Other notable cases that were seen included retinal detachments, albinism, Toxoplasmosis, diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, glaucoma, cataratta, and eye turns.

August 18, 2008: Giorno 2

Our first day of clinic was interesting, but Day 2 proved to be even more exciting and rewarding. One man came in having been shot in the eye with the bullet having exited out of his head. We saw many pterygiums today, che sono overgrowths della congiuntiva che si verificano da radiazione ultravioletta del sole. Quando i pterygiums crescono sulla cornea e la linea di vista, visione è compromessa. Ci sono stati più casi toxoplasmosi uno dei quali era in realtà uno studente di cura della clinica che stava aiutando a tradurre. La toxoplasmosi si verifica da un'infezione parassitaria che può manifestarsi in un occhio a causare la perdita della vista. Lo studente di professione d'infermiera ha spiegato che la sua visione era stata così sin da quando era molto giovane, così lo abbiamo voluto proteggere il suo buon occhio prescrivendo gli occhiali da indossare a tempo pieno. Probabilmente il nostro avvenimento più memorabile della giornata è stata una donna anziana che ha portato in un barattolo con un lungo verme in esso. All'inizio della giornata, she had coughed it up out of her mouth and she was so proud showing it off to everyone and she even posed for pictures with it. One girl had very reduced vision in one eye and after dilation no one could find the answer to as why she had such reduced vision. Tuttavia, a student walked by and noticed that her eye was turned in. Cover test was performed to check her eye alignment and it showed that she did have an eye turned in that probably led to suppression and amblyopia of that eye. One patient came in with intraocular pressures of OD 79 mmHg and OS 18 mmHg. This was especially alarming for us students because we had never seen pressures that high in a patient before. After instilling IOP lowering drugs (Travatan, Azopt, Alphagan P, and Pilocarpine) and repeating the installation, le pressioni sono stati portati fino a OD 28. Dopo clinica aveva chiuso per la giornata, la maggior parte di noi stavano rilassando quando cinque più pazienti arrivati ​​spiegando che avevano spinto un bel po 'per venire a trovarci presso la clinica. Dopo l'autorizzazione da Dr. Spencer, siamo stati in grado di esaminare i pazienti, anche se la clinica era stata chiusa per il giorno.

August 19, 2008: Giorno 3

La clinica ha visto quasi il doppio dei pazienti oggi come si è visto nel Giorno 2. Ci sono stati più casi di distacco di retina, cataratta, ipertensiva e retinopatia diabetica, and glaucoma, ma ci sono stati anche casi di atrofia ottica, sinechie posteriori, e una procedura di rimozione di corpi estranei fatto. Un caso interessante è stata di un giovane ragazzo che è venuto con la sua sclera cresciuto sui suoi iride e la pupilla del suo occhio destro. His mother told us that he had a machete accident when he was just a few years old. One student was dilating a patient when it was noticed that while one eye was dilating normally, in the fellow eye, the horizontal meridian seemed to be dilating, but not the vertical meridian of the pupil. Upon closer evaluation, it was observed that the lens had attached itself to the iris and the patient had a posterior synechia. The patient was cyclopleged to attempt to separate the adhesion, but that caused angle closure and the patient’s intraocular pressure elevated so drops were given to lower the pressure. One student noticed a small abnormality of a patient’s cornea, but it was not apparent what it was. It turned out to be a metallic foreign body, which was removed by Dr. Spencer. La sala acuità visiva ha avuto anche la sua quota di eccitazione quando un paziente ha avuto un attacco durante il tentativo di fare acuità visiva. Il medico della clinica era subito lì ed è stata portata in ospedale a Asuncion.

August 20, 2008: Giorno 4

Ancora più pazienti arrivati ​​in questo giorno. Abbiamo visto pazienti con gli stessi tipi di complicazioni giorni precedenti come distacchi di retina, cataratta, ipertensiva e retinopatia diabetica, etc. Tuttavia, un caso diverso presentato in una giovane ragazza che è arrivato con una disfunzione della motilità oculare e scoperto che aveva i segni esatte e sintomi della sindrome di retrazione di Duane. Durante il suo esame, lei non voleva essere dilatato, ma abbiamo voluto dare il suo un'accurata prescrizione spettacolo quindi abbiamo bisogno di cyclopege suo. Dopo un po 'lei era più calma e rilassata in nostra presenza. One of the more notable case for this day was after clinic was closed. A patient was brought in by his friend who had a scratched cornea from barb wire. He was in much pain so he was given an NSAID, fluoroquinolone, and was cyclopleged for some relief of the pain. After treating the patient, the friend looked worried when he wanted to ask us a question. Tuttavia, we all laughed after hearing the question. He just wanted to know if his friend was allowed to drink alcohol. That night, after dinner, local dancers came to dance for us in their cultural dresses. We were all touched by their offer of appreciation.

August 21, 2008: Giorno 5

This last day, we had the most people register to be seen at the clinic compared to the previous days that we had been here. So far, each and everyday had been new and exciting with all of us being pushed to our abilities. Giorno 5 was not any different. One memorable case was with a young man who was not initially sent to be dilated, but when a student looked into his fundus, there was something dark and black attached to his optic nerve. It was not evident what it was so he was sent to be dilated. The young man also had a history of eye trauma so we were curious to find out what the dark abnormality was. After dilation, it appeared as though the patient had a Cloquet’s canal running from his optic disc to his lens. One young girl had the complaint that she was looking under the black board. This raised a couple of eyebrows because no one knew what that really meant, but upon observation, it could be seen that she had a little ptosis and her chin was tilted up, but that was not the answer as to why she was seeing “under the board.” It turned out, she had an ocular motility problem and was having problems raising her eye leading us to believe that she had a superior rectus or inferior oblique complication.

The end:

After servicing all the patients in Paraguay, it was difficult to comprehend how they all walked around in their daily lives with no refractive correction. Imagine a world without your glasses and imagine seeing a blurry image of your child every time you look at him/her. One of the most rewarding experiences from the mission occurred in dispensing where patients received their glasses. Each VOSH member working in the dispensary tried their hardest to find the exact prescription the patient needed, but it was difficult to find the exact prescription in the many boxes of donated glasses. Even though we could not provide the exact prescription, they were given the closest prescription that we could find. When the patients put on the glasses, they were immediately ecstatic and grateful for the improvement in their vision. Something so simple such as clear vision that is taken for granted daily was so greatly appreciated by these patients. Witnessing their gratitude and appreciation for the difference that we made in their vision was incredibly rewarding.

Approximately 2500 patients later and 139 cataract referrals of which 42 received eye glasses, we all leave with the knowledge that the memories that we made in Paraguay will always be a part of who we all are now. We hopefully made a difference and enhanced vision in many. We ended our time in Paraguay, but continued our time together as a new family in Buenos Aires, Argentina for our R&R.

Respectfully submitted,

Mailynn H Pham