Sights on Health has distributed 1,600 pairs of their socks to:

~525 pairs to people living on Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

~ 100 pairs to Huntington Family Service League, NY for homeless men, housed in a local motel

~ 400 pairs to a NYC Homeless ministry

~ 600 pairs to a Homeless Shelter in Riverhead, NY
Thank you, Bombas, for your generous donation of Socks, which will greatly benefit the people Sights on Health serves by providing them with essential comfort and support!

Our team is busy at work so stay tuned for updates from Cusco Peru!

SOH is a dedicated group of physicians & healthcare professionals from across the U.S.A. volunteers their time to provide free cataract eye surgery, medical care & eye care to those in need in South America & the U.S.A.

2024 Cataract Surgical & Medical Mission Cuzco, Peru, May 17-25

Great News!

Sights on Health, Inc. is celebrating its ten-year anniversary since their first cataract surgical mission to Peru by returning to Calca in the Sacred Valley, October 14-23, 2022 for its first cataract surgical mission since the start of the pandemic.

• It will be a smaller group than in years past- a team of 13 people will transport via commercial airlines donated surgical supplies for 50 sight restoring surgeries, along with equipment to set up a portable eye clinic and operating room in a local health outpost in the remote village of Calca in the Sacred Valley, Peru.

• Sights on Health is working with the Peruvian Ministry of Health, FNE International, Asociacion Winaypaq, Ceprece -Cusco Eye Clinic, Yanapana Peru, Alcon & Surgical Eye Expeditions to provide sight restorative cataract surgery to the underserved indigenous population, free of charge.

• Pre-screening by our Peruvian team for surgical patients in remote villages in the Andes Mountains has already begun.

• We are accepting monetary donations to purchase specific surgical supplies still needed. All donations are tax deductible.

Thank you in advance to our supporters who enable Sights on Health to give the gift of sight.

Donate

Please don’t hesitate to contact us for additional information.

Riobamba, Ecuador
September 21-29, 2019

The countless hours of preparation during the nine months leading up to the mission enabled our Sights on Health team to perform 99 surgeries: cataract removals with implants & for the first time, glaucoma surgeries; all free of charge. Our patients included farmers from rural Andean villages, a teacher from the Amazon, people from Riobamba, laborers from the coastal region, and a Venezuelan refugee. The gift of sight empowers individuals to live happy and healthy lives. With restored vision, the patients we served will be able to ensure the productivity of their farms, care for their children and grandchildren, and lead productive lives.

Our team transported eye surgical supplies worth more than $170,000. Alcon and Surgical Eye Expeditions donated ~ $150,000 worth of the transported supplies.  The nonprofit organizations FIBUSPAM and Partners for Andean Community Health lead by Paul Martel, David Guacho and Sarah Marjane hosted our team of 16 members for the week.  Their ophthalmologist Dr. Carlos Gonzalez and his team screened patients from the surrounding rural areas in the months leading up to our mission. Having the opportunity to work with their extraordinary Ecuadorian team and our USA team was an honor. After our second year of collaboration, we have not only developed a fine working relationship but a friendship as well. One that we hope will continue to deepen through the years.

What we have accomplished is a tribute to all of our team. Each of them displayed a professional work ethic during the long hours of work and their true caring nature was evident for all to see.  Sights on Health, Inc. would like to thank the efforts of each of the participants for the donation of their time, their talents and their passion for helping others that are in need.

2019 Sights on Health Surgical Team

Debra Messina, M.D. – Team Leader
Michael Sable, M.D. – Surgical Director

Cathy Roberts – Administrator
Christina Rager, M.D. – Critical Care Specialist
David Krebs, M.D. – Ophthalmologist
Allison Angelilli, M.D. – Ophthalmologist
Joseph Kristan, M.D. – Ophthalmology resident, Montefiore Medical Center
Shashi Bala Muttreja, R.N.
Alexandra Thanasoulis, R.N.
Lorena Chinchilla, COT
Frank Garcia, COT
Julia Colmenares – Nursing Assistant
Ken Roberts – Sterilization
Pallavi Tatapudy – Fourth-Year Medical Student, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
Ginger Thanasoulis – Translator
Michael McDonald – Alcon Representative
Lawrence Miller
Carolyn Cohen

An anonymous donation funded the majority of the operating costs for the eye surgical mission in memory of Marc S. Sablow. The Directors & Officers of Sights on Health, Inc. thank the donor for their generosity. It enabled our team to truly make a difference in the lives of so many people. 

Debra Messina, M.D., President & Co-Founder, Michael D. Sable, M.D., Surgical Director, George N. Coritsidis, M.D., Medical Director, Catherine Roberts, Secretary, Joseph Ng, M.D., James A. Rienzo, Director of Industry Relations and Andrew J. Maggiolo, Treasurer

To experience our day to day on this mission, click here to read the detailed blogs by Pallavi Tatapudy.

Written by Shuhan Wang, MS4

Hey there! Another day of the mission successfully completed! I decided to share just one of the highlights of my day with you all tonight in an effort to catch up on some sleep. I hope you enjoy some photos in the meantime! 

This afternoon, our team had a very special case. A nervous and quiet 16-year-old girl, Maria, came in with what appeared to be a congenital cataract in her right eye. Due to failure of early interventions in life (ideally before age 8, when maximal neuroplasticity could prompt correct visual pathway formation), it is now impossible for us to restore vision in her right eye. However, after our team had discussed the condition with Maria and her parents, we together decided that we would still operate to remove her cataract. Just so that she could live a more normal life, like any other teenage girl. That is, she would be able to smile upon waking up and looking into the mirror each morning without seeing a glaring thick yellowish plaque stuck inside her eye! Just so that she could be seen and treated like a normal young lady. Dr. Sable, our surgical director, took on the task in a heartbeat. Due to years of accumulation of tissue damage, there was significant fibrotic changes that had occurred in Maria’s eye which made the operation much more challenging. Nonetheless, with great patience and dexterous prowess, Dr. Sable was able to cosmetically restore Maria’s right eye to a near natural state. As soon as the case was finished, Dr. Sable took care to ask me to snap a photo of Maria’s new right eye before patching it up so Maria could see immediately post-op how her eye now looked like instead of waiting until tomorrow during patch removal. In the post-recovery room, when Maria was shown the picture of her new right eye, after an initial moment of disbelief, her whole face lit up. She smiled for the first time and exclaimed “Estoy tan feliz!” (“I am so happy!”). The whole team gathered around to congratulate her on how well she did and shared our own joy to see her beautiful smile. Maria’s sister and mother waiting outside came running to her upon discharge and almost bursted into tears when they saw the before and after photos. They hugged us again and again for the great outcome and future outlook for Maria. Looking around the hall, I was met with smiley faces everywhere. It was such a wonderful occasion to witness!

We’ve been so fortunate to experience health care in Peru through working with the Ministry of Health and the hospital in Calca. We learned that when hiccups happen, you find a way to fix it because people depend on it. A tiny example is my on the spot learning of Spanish when taking medical histories. A Promise to Peru has many friends all over the US and Peru, for which we are so thankful. One of our emergency physicians said it perfectly when she said “the patients need you, and you need them.” A simple smile or a hand on a patient’s back for comfort goes a long way, even in a completely different culture. We provided quality compassionate care alongside Peruvian physicians with the help of more than 50 volunteers, and if you’re interested in joining us next year or donating to our cause please don’t hesitate to contact us!

~ Chrissie Chevalier, OMS I

We traveled from JFK airport in New York all the way to Calca, Peru with a layover in Lima! Our journey began at 7:30pm(EST) on June 9 and we arrived in Calca at 3pm(CST), making a total travel time of 19.5 hours. Our dedicated team came mostly from New York, but also from as diverse places like Texas and Oregon. We arrived safely and without hassle from international customs. Once arriving in Calca, 12 selfless participants brought luggage to the hospital to be set up on Sunday before joining most of our participants to the markets at Pisco for a chance to see the culture and pick up fun souvenirs. The hotel is slightly walking distance from both the ophthalmologic and medicine clinics, but some mornings our trusty bus drivers will bring us there. Our A Promise to Peru mission team is bonding well and truly having a good time getting to know each other, which serves as a glue for the upcoming week. Enjoy the first round of photos, there will be many more!