The Visionary Foundation successfully implemented its tenth annual surgical eye mission in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Serving in collaboration with our local partner, “Fundación de Servicios Médicos Voluntarios” (FSMV), a US-based team of four persons under the leadership of Dr. J. Alberto Martinez conducted a total of 52 eye surgeries over four days in late July at the FSMV charity clinic. The mission was facilitated and assisted by local physician, Dr. Marcos Fajardo, and his FSMV colleagues.
This latest mission again prioritized corneal transplants. However, only four corneas were able to be secured prior to the mission. Dr. Fajardo and FSMV conducted prescreening and identified 20 potential corneal transplant patients before the team’s arrival. On the first day, Dr. Martinez had to make the difficult decision who among the 20 identified potential recipients were most suitable to receive the four corneas for transplant. Dr. Martinez then performed two penetrating keratoplasties (PK) and two open sky triple procedures, assisted by FSMV Drs. Fajardo and Pineda, and a skilled team of American and Honduran technicians. A total of four corneal transplants were completed this year.
Performing corneal transplants has been the primary purpose of the Visionary Foundation’s surgical eye missions historically. There are no ‘eye banks’ in Honduras which severely restricts access to the corneal tissue needed for transplants. Consequently, few Hondurans have access to this sight-restoring surgery. Since 2012, the Visionary Foundation has facilitated over a hundred free corneal transplant surgeries alone in San Pedro Sula to give the gift of sight to over a hundred, underserved Hondurans and through it, improved quality of life and future livelihood. Additionally, nearly six hundred cataract and other eye surgeries have also been performed in the country through these missions to positively impact many more lives.
Since the number of available corneas for transplant was limited, the mission team was also able to again conduct a significant number of additional eye surgeries. Cataract surgeries were performed on another 45 patients. Additionally, Dr. Martinez conducted a rather complicated surgery to remove an embedded nail fragment, while simultaneously also removing a cataract. The remainder of the mission was spent in post-op care and consultations. Drs. Fajardo and Maldonado conducted additional follow-up with all patients to ensure proper healing following the mission.
While successful, the mission was constrained in its effectiveness by the limited number of available corneas for transplantation and a malfunctioning microscope at the host clinic. The Visionary Foundation plans to address both these challenges to enhance the effectiveness and impact of future surgical eye missions.
As an extension of the mission, team members Anna Pigotti and Nancy Cruz made a follow-up visit to Hogar San Jose, a local girl’s orphanage under the leadership of Sister Cilia, providing a donation, along with backpacks and dolls for the 70 plus girls at the orphanage.
Special thanks to all those who made this year’s mission possible: Our Team: Dr. Martinez, Nancy Cruz, Anna Pigotti and Matthew Martinez; Our Honduran Partners: Drs. Fajardo, Pineda and Maldonado and FSMV; Our In-Kind Donors: CorneaGen, AltruVision, Alcon Laboratories, and Johanna Durham and Kevin Smith at Palisades Eye Surgery Center; and all the generous supporters of the Visionary Foundation.
Thank you for making this year’s mission possible!
