2011 Portoviejo, Ecuador

Mission Report

Three optometrists (from NY, KY, and NC) and five optometry students from the University of Waterloo in Canada accompanied VOSH-MN President Bob Boeding to Ecuador in August 10-19th, 2011.

They were hosted and stayed in the homes of The Club Rotario Portoviejo Reales Tamarindos. Within four days of clinic, they were able to serve 1,800 people with glasses! Of these people, they estimated that 20% were in great need of cataract removal. This number may seem high, however, they did serve many people from a nursing home.

One of the optometry students, Kevin Chavez, said that the experience was fantastic and really helped him break the ice with patients and learn how to deal with an intense environment. He also noted that he got to see a variety of eye diseases that were really rare, something very beneficial!

The students from Waterloo were a GREAT group of young professionals. They all had caring attitudes toward the patients and conducted themselves in a very professional manner.

They were very helpful to the success ofthe mission.
Submitted by Bob Boeding

This trip was led by Bob Boeding

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