We arrive this morning and are greeted by big applause of appreciation by all the patients that we had operated the past few days. They are all very happy with their new eyesight.Β
A new life awaits them as they can now go back to their farms and grow food again.
There are a lot of ladies who sow for a living and can now sow again as they had to stop their work when they lost their eye sight.
Itβs a very happy day here in Guayaquil, Ecuador at the Hospital Militar.
Look at how many people we are able to help on this trip!
We screen a couple of hundred patients and select the patients who are in need of surgery to restore their eyesight. Most patient can only see light or hand motion from up close as their cataract are very advanced.Β
They are overjoyed and happy the next day when their eye patches are taken out and they can see clearly again for the first time in many many years!
We are grateful to have a great support team, many volunteers come with us from the US and also nurses and translators from the local hospital in Ecuador.
The patients are well taken care of and are in good hands with Dr. Kondrot and his team!
How does a surgeon take a break on an eye mission trip? He plays with the children with eye problems waiting in the waiting room. This week in Ecuador we are blessed to give care to many young children with various eye conditions from infected eyes to crossed eyes. They are always the highlight of our trip as they bring lots of joy to our long working days. These lucky children are in good hands with Dr Kondrot.
πͺπ¨ πͺπ¨πͺπ¨Eye Surgical Mission Trip to Ecuador πͺπ¨ πͺπ¨πͺπ¨
We take so much for granted living in America with all the convenience and modern technology and top of the line equipment.
Here we are in Ecuador in the military hospital. We have to bring our own portable microscope which is bare bone and does not have a lot of functionalities but we make do with what he has.
Then the patient is ready for surgery but the table is stuck in the highest position and wonβt go any lower! We try for a long time and finally gets it to go down!
We never know what surprises await us on an eye surgical mission trip. But it all works out at the end and the team is so happy we can continue on with surgeries!
πͺπ¨ πͺπ¨πͺπ¨Eye Surgical Mission Trip to Ecuador πͺπ¨ πͺπ¨πͺπ¨
We arrive this morning to the Hospital Militar (the military hospital) that opens its door for us to work this week in Guayaquil to perform eye surgery for the poor. Many blind people come from the jungle and travel many days to get their eyes fixed.
We are warmly greeted by hundreds of people waiting for us. They give us a big standing ovation and we all pray for a good surgical day.
There are lots of people who are blind in both eyes and can not see anything at all.
πͺπ¨ πͺπ¨πͺπ¨Eye Surgical Mission Trip to Ecuador πͺπ¨ πͺπ¨πͺπ¨ It has been raining for days in Florida. The ground has turned into a soaking wet pad of soft mud. Luckily we have a break in the weather. Though the dark clouds are looming overhead, the rain has stopped for a little while. We quickly load up all 500 pounds of supplies onto our truck to head out to the airport. We try to beat another downpour so we can keep our supplies dry from the rain. As soon as Dr. Kondrot starts the truck, the heavy truck bed loaded with supplies sinks deep into the soft mud!!! We are very worried about the in a coming rainstorm and also our flight departure time is coming up very quickly. We call AAA to the rescue. A tow truck will be there in one hour. We might not make it! The Lord is watching over us. We get a tow truck very fast. The nice driver gets me on the phone and asks βAre you at the church at the end of the street?β. I say βYes Sir, thatβs us waiting at the church for youβ. He says βI will be there in a few seconds!β We are saved and off we go. On-time departure for Ecuador. All is well! This morning as we try our best to beat the storm, making it to the airport on time, make sure we donβt forget our custom paperwork for the supplies, make sure we donβt forget anything for the surgical mission, we are under a lot of stress yet deep down I know we will be ok. As we drive out, I receive this text from our pastor friend who sends us off with a prayer: There’s no better place than being in the center of God’s will. It’s filled with peace, joy, and overwhelming security that God has prepared something way better than what you have for yourself. Itβs so true. Thank you to all our friends and family who pray for us. Continue to keep us in your prayers as we begin another 2 weeks doing Godβs work bringing sight to the blind in Ecuador.
Much gratitude to http://wjsupply.com in Jacksonville, FL for their generous donation of surgical instruments! We always need new instruments to replace lost instruments and the wear and tear of high volume surgery on our mission trips! This generous donation will help hundreds of people restore lost vision
We had a very successful mission in Jamaica completing 100 cataract operations and training 4 surgeons in the MSICS (Manual Small Incision Cataract) technique. The people of Jamaica are wonderful. We love Jamaica! www.Missiontocureblindness.com