Follow Amanda Bader as she blogs about her experience in Peru! apromisetoperu2016.blogspot.com
Friday marked our last day of clinic and we definitely went out with a bang! Walking into clinic, patients were lined up in almost every empty space of the hospital, awaiting both eye and medical care. Although Friday’s clinic only ran until 2pm, we were still able to see hundreds of patients as well as screen a few patients for cataract surgery to be referred to a Peruivan ophthalmologist in Cusco named Dr. Silva.
At the end of the five days, we saw over 950 eye clinic patients and over 400 medical patients – totaling over 1,350 patients! Words cannot describe how grateful we are to the people of Peru for letting us treat them, the hospital in Calca for allowing us to take over their facilities this week, Dr. Morales and Dr. Silva for their correspondence, all of our donors and supporters who helped make this trip possible, and of course, our entire Promise To Peru volunteer team, including ophthalmologists, physicians, optometrists, nurse practitioners, RNs, pharmacists, technicians, translators, administrators, medical and PA students, and other volunteers who worked so tirelessly and diligently these past five days – this mission trip could not have been possible without each and every one of you!
And of course, a special thank you goes out to our co-founders, Dr. Debra Messina and Dr. Natalie DiGioia, for all of the work, hours, and organization they put in to make this one of the best trips yet!