Himalayan Cataract Project E-News: May 2010Here you will find news of our latest international eye care activities. This month’s newsletter includes:
- Himalayan Cataract Project receives major endowment gift
- HCP satisfying its mission in Ghana
- “Setting the standard” for residency training in Ghana
- HCP Board Member Dr. Matt Oliva and Affiliated Ophthalmologist Dr. Paul Imperia featured in Oregon’s Mail Tribune
- Dr. Geoff Tabin profiled in Utah’s Deseret News
Himalayan Cataract Project receives major endowment giftThe Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) received a major gift from the Eugene Charlop Estate & Trust in late 2009 and early 2010. The HCP Board of Directors has decided to commit the funds to the HCP Endowment, providing for the long-term future of the organization. The Endowment’s purpose is to ultimately cover all administrative costs so 100% of funds raised will go directly to programs.
HCP Board Member Dr. Richard Litwin shares his reflections on Mr. Eugene Charlop:
"This is the story of a very extraordinary, ordinary man, who sought help from his ophthalmologist because of a very irritating but not very serious eye condition. This meant I had a few minutes to chat with Gene every couple of weeks over a period of several years. I discovered that he had survived a bout of lung cancer but he told me little about it and did not seem excessively concerned. I, of course, regaled him with tales of my overseas cataract surgeries in Nepal through the Himalayan Cataract Project. Gene was not wealthy and the idea that he might want to help with the blindness work never entered my mind.
"I was at an HCP Board Meeting when I learned that a man had died of lung cancer which had been caused by exposure to asbestos, and in his will he left to HCP an award that might come to his estate from litigation that had been in process for many years. Then came his name: Eugene Charlop. The bequest was considerable. We at HCP are grateful for his goodness of heart, as are the thousands that will now see again." HCP satisfying its mission in Ghana | | 
Patients in Tamale (above) and surgical training (below). Photo credit: Margaret Laws.
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HCP Co-Director Dr. Geoff Tabin and Affiliated Ophthalmologists Drs. Paul Bernstein, Alan Crandall and Robert Hoffman, along with a team from the Moran Eye Center, recently spent over a week in Ghana working with partners at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). Ghana is becoming a great example of how HCP is providing high-quality ophthalmic care while improving infrastructure and training future doctors through skills transfer. Highlights from the trip include:
- Dr. Tabin worked with local ophthalmologists Drs. Seth Lartey and Seth Wayne in Tamale at an outreach camp, providing over 177 cataract surgeries in four days.
- With assistance from Dr. Tabin, Dr. Lartey performed six cornea transplants.
- Dr. Amos Aikins, a former HCP Fellow and KATH doctor, received follow-up retina training from the Moran team.
- Two Fellowships have been arranged for KATH doctors to take place in Utah and Nepal.
Residency training in Ghana: Setting the standard | | 
Drs. Crandall and Hoffman in Kumasi.
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University of Utah International Ophthalmology Fellow Dr. Mike Feilmeier and HCP Strategic Development Manager Jessica Feilmeier spent six weeks in March and April in Kumasi, Ghana, at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) working to restructure the residency training program. Their primary focus was to set the educational standards and guidelines for the nascent residency training program. Drawing on his experience in numerous residency training programs in the US, Nepal, India, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Dr. Feilmeier was able to improve the operating room efficiency to enable more resident surgical cases in an attempt to meet ICO and ACGME standards. However, challenges still exist.
According to Dr. Feilmeier:
"The biggest obstacle in providing high-quality residency education in the developing world is lack of teachers. We need to focus a significant amount of resources to improve infrastructure and entice more residents who demonstrate sincere interest in the residency program. Cultivating this interest is the key to improving ophthalmic education in the developing world. We have taken these initial steps in Kumasi, Ghana, and we envision that KATH will set the educational standard for all of Western Africa."
HCP Board Member Dr. Matt Oliva and Affiliated Ophthalmologist Dr. Paul Imperia featured in Oregon’s Mail Tribune | | 
Cataract patients in Mekelle, Ethiopia.
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Drs. Matt Oliva and Paul Imperia joined HCP partner Dr. Tilahun Kiros at the Quiha Zonal Hospital in Mekelle, Ethiopia, to provide over 200 sight-restoring surgeries in February. Their visit was recently featured in southern Oregon’s daily newspaper, the Mail Tribune, along with a summary of HCP’s sustainable eye care model, Oliva and Imperia’s new training facility in Oregon and HCP’s partnership with SightLife in eye banking and much more.
You can read the article and view photos here. Dr. Geoff Tabin profiled in Utah’s Deseret News | |
Photo of Dr. Tabin by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
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Utah's Deseret News recently featured a profile on Himalayan Cataract Project Co-Director Dr. Geoff Tabin.
As Tabin traversed the globe for climbing excursions and humanitarian efforts, "there were so many things I watched people die from that would be so easy to treat in America," he told the newspaper. "But the one absolute miracle was cataract surgery."
The article, which includes a full photo slideshow, follows Dr. Tabin on climbing outings and relates his experiences bringing life-altering eye care to underserved populations. Follow this link to read the complete article.
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Cataract patients in Nepal. Ace Kvale photo.
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The Himalayan Cataract Project works to eradicate preventable and curable blindness through high quality ophthalmic care, education and the establishment of a world-class eye care infrastructure.
Please visit our Web site at www.cureblindness.org to keep up with the latest HCP news. There you will also find information on HCP’s finances, its founders, staff and board members, and ways that you can give the gift of sight.
Remember, through the Himalayan Cataract Project it takes a gift of only $20 to provide life-changing cataract surgery to someone struggling with blindness in the developing world. |
