Local surgeon helps hundreds in Haiti

COURTESY PHOTO Dr. Rick Palmon, right, with two young patients and Dr. Andrew Moyes, of Kansas City. Hundreds of Haiti residents can see better today because of the good work of a local ophthalmologist and his staff. Dr. Rick Palmon and two of his staff at Southwest Florida Eye Care recently completed a week-long mission trip to St. Louis du Nord in Haiti with a team of eye care providers from across the nation. The three members of Southwest Florida Eye Care were the only local people on the trip.

The trip was coordinated by Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, which schedules trips of health providers each month to this poor island nation. The physicians saw 800 patients in the clinic during the week and performed 115 surgeries for cataracts and corneal disease, plus completed an additional 100 laser treatments for glaucoma and other eye problems. Four hundred pairs of donated eyeglasses were dispensed.

Eye care is hard to come by in this hurricane racked country, especially in small towns like St. Louis du Nord. "There are two Haitian ophthalmologists who travel to the village to provide follow-up care after the surgeries, but no routine care is available," Dr. Palmon said. "Many of the patients walked for miles in the hope of seeing a doctor and having eye surgery. It was heartbreaking that we couldn't get to all of them, but time did not permit. All we could do is tell them come back next year."

This is Dr. Palmon's second mission trip to Haiti. A team of physicians organized by a surgeon from Kansas City have been providing free eye care on an annual trip to the island nation for more than 10 years.

"All of the services, all of the equipment, the corneal tissue, everything was donated," Dr. Palmon said. "We had to arrange our own transportation and slept in tents and barracks."

Jamie Casey and Melanie Vianest, ophthalmic assistants with Southwest Florida Eye Care joined Dr. Palmon on the trip and assisted in the operating room. They said they were touched by how happy the patients were, despite the hard circumstances of their lives.

"When you have good vision and when you live in a country like ours that has so much, it's hard to comprehend the disadvantages associated with not be able to see when food is scarce, how much you depend on your vision to see to eat." Ms. Casey said. "The patients were so grateful that we were there and despite the hard circumstances of their lives they were very happy."