The AHMEN Eye-Care Program needs an ophthalmology surgical microscope

Over the past six years AHMEN’s Extended Eye Care Program has made considerable progress in our ability to measure visual acuity and fit both near and far vision glasses. Today our eye care teams can deploy our mobile unit anywhere with reasonable road access. Using Kendall Optometry Ministry’s handheld autorefractor and computer aided technology we are able to match a patient’s optometric needs with one or more pairs of clean, used glasses that we carry within our inventory of 3840 pairs of donated glasses. Whenever we find that we do not have a pair of used glasses that will help the patient see, we can often build a pair using our backup system of “Harry Potter” style frames and lenses. Recently we have launched a program whereby we train community agents in the SIFAT/AHMEN Leadership Training Initiative to use both positive and negative single vision glasses to provide good approximate fits for persons needing glasses in areas too remote to access with our larger mobile unit. In addition we helped computerize the eye glasses clinic at the Hospital Loma de Luz and we have equipment to establish one or more permanent eye care clinics in the future. Employing this more flexible approach augmented with a cadre of well trained volunteers within several AHMEN teams, today we do a pretty good job of fitting eyeglasses.

The standard protocol that we use includes several tests that permit us to detect problems that glasses alone will not help. Cataracts, Pterygia and Strabismus are most common amongst these. Since we are not trained professionals, we refer these cases to in-country ophthalmologists who may in turn schedule some surgeries for visiting U.S. surgical teams that periodically come to Honduras. This approach has not been as successful since the in-country physicians will only examine a few patients one at a time each year from AHMEN.  Moreover, each patient, or an AHMEN team, must first pay travel expenses, hotel and food costs, plus exam fees for one or more visits before being scheduled for surgery. This solution is entirely too expensive and extremely insufficient considering the urgent need.  Cataracts are so prevalent that 20 – 30 % of our adult patients are affected. Children with strabismus, and it is all too common, must have corrective surgery by the time they are seven years old, else they will lose sight in the aberrant eye.  Even if we could get the children scheduled early enough, this would incorporate double the expense as each child would be accompanied by an adult.

For several years we have searched for a better solution. Last year we met Dr. Young Choi, an ophthalmologist from Birmingham. Dr. Choi is a mission minded Christian who has been looking to establish a continuing presence within the two-thirds world. We took Young on a tour of the facilities at Loma de Luz and introduced him to Dr. Jeff McKenney, the founder of the hospital. At that time it was agreed that Young, and other ophthalmologists that he would recruit, could use Loma de Luz’s staff and surgery unit to perform eye surgeries on needy patients within AHMEN’s general service area. To complete this arrangement we must acquire and ship an ophthalmology surgical microscope to Loma de Luz. 

Since that time we have been looking for an affordable microscope that we can dedicate to this effort. New scopes cost between $20 – 35K and are clearly out of our reach. Recently, however, Young has identified a used microscope at a Birmingham area surgical unit and has just discovered this morning that we can purchase it for $8,000. We have received donations and pledges for $4,100. We need $3,900 more. We would like to purchase this microscope in time to have it boxed and in the AHMEN warehouse in Decatur, AL by October 22, 2011 so that it can be shipped on our Christmas container. If you would like to contribute, or are willing to conduct some form of fund raiser, please let me know.  If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to the AHMEN Eye Program, please mail the check to us:

Mary or Hugh Guffey

8088 County Road 22

Waverly, AL  36879