World Sight Day 2020 is October 8th, with this year’s theme being Hope in Sight. The purpose of World Sight Day is to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment, we wanted to highlight the work that Healing Art Missions (HAM) is doing in Haiti to connect rural communities to eye health.
Haitian ophthalmologist, Dr. Marcelus performing follow-up eye exam
Access to eye care has been part of the patient services at HAM’s primary care clinic in Dumay since the early days. Optometrist and past HAM board member Dr. Jeanine Flood, was instrumental in training one of HAM’s early translators as an eye technician, Jean Herard Charles, and helped us open an eye clinic within the primary care facility in 2012. Today, Charles runs HAM’s eye clinic as well as being HAM’s Haitian Operations Manager and founder of the Charles Salomon Primary School in Port-de-Paix. Charles lives with his family in Port-de-Paix, which is on the north coast, so he must take a bus from his home to Port-de-Prince, then to Dumay to open the eye clinic one week per month. Charles performs eye exams, monitors glaucoma and cataract conditions, treats eye infections and distributes eye glasses. At the conclusion of the week, Charles is joined at the Dumay Clinic by Dr. Sadrac Marcelus, a Haitian ophthalmologist employed by HAM to follow-up with patients who exhibit more serious eye related issues previously screened by Charles. In 2019 the eye clinic performed 1,106 eye exams, 104 eye surgeries, and distributed 238 pairs of glasses throughout the community.
Charles and Dr. Marcelus seeing patients
In 2016 HAM received the donation of an operating microscope through a partner organization, the SEVA Foundation, which was transported to Haiti via another partner, Direct Relief International. Beginning in January of 2017, a third non-profit organization, Go Crazy, Do Good joined us in our partnership with the community of Dumay to perform cataract surgeries at the Dumay Clinic with HAM’s new operating microscope. Led by eye surgeon Dr. Brian Stahl of Dayton, Ohio, Go Crazy, Do Good has led eye surgery teams to perform cataract surgeries in Africa, Central America, and Jamaica, performing more than 20 medical missions before coming to Haiti the first time. Since then Dr. Stahl and his team have returned to Dumay each January through 2019 and performed 243 cataract surgeries since 2017. Because the socio-political turmoil and violence in Haiti ramped up midway through 2019 and into 2020, we put cataract surgeries on hold for this year, but Dr. Stahl has committed to return to Dumay with his team in the future and continue their annual cataract surgeries for the community.
Dr. Marcelus working with patient
As Charles wears many hats at HAM, we have been able to utilize his services as an eye technician well beyond HAM’s Dumay Clinic. At the Charles Salomon Primary School, Charles performs annual eye exams on the more than 300 children attending, referring potential glaucoma and cataract cases to see an ophthalmologist, and writing prescription for glasses when needed. In 2018, Charles and HAM volunteer Susan Palleschi journeyed to the remote, mountainside village of Demier, to provide eye exams and identifying several community members with glaucoma and cataracts, and distributing reading glasses when necessary. We have been partners with the Demier community since the mid-2000’s, funding clean water and latrine projects, and paying the salaries of water technicians and a community health worker. The Demier patients with cataracts were then scheduled for surgery with Dr. Stahl’s team during their 2019 January mission. HAM arranged and paid for their transportation to Dumay and housed them at the clinic during their treatment.
Charles beginning eye exams at the Charles Salomon Primary School
Charles talking with Patient in Demier
In recognition of World Sight Day, if you would like to help support HAM’s eye clinic or any of HAM’s projects in Haiti.