March 9, 2010 Eye Exam Team At Amor Viviente Church In Danli

Today we had a WONDERFUL Eye Brigade!!! We performed eye exams on 151 people.

We arrived to lines and lines of people waiting for eye exams.

We started with a prayer... I was secretely praying we could get to all these people!

Sister Amalia was in charge of the Eye Brigade...

We had huge lines of people...

Victor worked with each patient one by one...

Rolando performs an eye exam...

One of our patients...

Another...

Another...


Blue eyes...

Rolando helps a lady find the right eyeglasses.

There were lines standing...

And lines sitting...

Old people...

Young people...

Middle aged people...

Smiling people...

And lines on the floor...

Working people...

This couple were married 2 years ago... and they came together to get their eyes examined.

August 27 Agua Fria Eye Brigade

This was an eye team that was a FLOP. We arrived, the people that needed exams didn't..... We only saw 23 people and only found 3 people with cataracts. It was a sad day but the people that we found will have free cataract surgery. Sometimes I wonder why people say they will notify the people and then they don't. Thank you to the Martin Family for sponsoring this team... the few were appreciative.

My favorite patient of the day.

Rolando performs an eye exam.

Victor Montoya performs eye exams on 1960's chairs.

August 26 2009 Fifty Six People Examined In Eye Brigade In Aramicina

In Aramicina today we performed eye exams on 56 people. Victor Montoya of COVA and Rolando Isiguire performed all of the exams and they found 8 people with cataracts. The end of the month these people will receive FREE CATARACT surgeries in Tegucigalpa.

Those who needed reading glasses received them for free and those who needed prescription glasses were evaluated and when possible given free glasses.

Wheelchair Giveaway in Nacaome, Valle, Honduras

Today was a day when the depth of my Christianity was put to test. If you have not read the BLOG from November 14th, 2008 you will need to read it in order to get the full impact of this story.

The Bible says to "bless those that persecute you and pray for those whom despitefully use you" and today I had a chance to do just that. In my BLOG on November 14th, I spoke about a corrupt congressman who filed FALSE charges against Jose Benavides and I in an attempt to gain a political advantage over Jose in the election.

Today, this corrupt congressman's "Tia" (aunt) showed up at one of the wheelchair brigades in need of a wheelchair. We scheduled Church of Christ in Nacaome with Pastor Santos Ramirez. Today was the day! When I arrived, there were several people already waiting outside for the event. As I started reading the paperwork and looking over the people's applications, I noticed that one of the possible recipients was Diputado Eleazer Juarez's family member. I asked her if she knew him and she responded that she was his aunt.

It was one of those times when idignation rose up inside of me and I wanted to say something like, "Why don't you have him donate you a chair? He is a man with power and position!" I fumed for a while and thought of all the chairs he had given away a few months prior (which came from the First Lady's stash and then I thought "I wonder why he didn't take care of his own family?" And then I thought, "I ought to call that rascal and give him a piece of my mind." I am sure all of those fleeting thoughts crossed my mind in just a matter of seconds and then I thought "Revenge!!!!" And then I thought, "Bless them that persecute you, pray for them which despitefully use you." Needless to say, this poor lady is probably a sweet person, affected by diabetes and probably doesn't have a clue how her nephew has tried to hurt me. SMART Teams and COVA performed cataract surgery on her sister who also has an amputated leg and diabetes just a few short months ago and we have scheduled cataract surgery on yet a third aunt of the same infamous Diputado, who by the way is also a doctor and has access to all kinds of healthcare benefits due to the position he holds.

Now would someone who is a statistics major please give me the statistical possibilities of this: I am in Honduras working with people whom I do not know and in three different medical brigades in three different towns, Playa Grande (an eye brigade), Nacaome (a wheelchair brigade) and San Lorenzo (an eye brigade), and three different patients all the "tias" of a man who filed false charges against me show up at those three different places and need my help. And then to add to that what are the chances that I would be in the process of publishing a book on "False Accusations" at the same time that the congressman decided to falsely accuse me?

Today we were able to give away another 7 wheelchairs which were donated by Free Wheelchair Mission. And today I was able to be a blessing to a family member of someone who had falsely accused me and and maligned my name.

15 Cataract Surgeries Completed Today!

Week before last while I had the team in Choluteca, we had an eye team doing eye exams and ferreting out cataract patients for surgery later in the month. All in all Victor Montoya and the other volunteers from COVA saw 267 patients and did eye exams on each of them. Of the 267 patients 24 were diagnosed with cataracts. Of the 24 diagnosed with cataracts 20 were given surgery dates for the 24th of February. Yesterday 17 or the 20 people who were given appointments for cataract surgery showed up to ride the private bus to Tegucigalpa. Today 15 people received their cataract surgeries in the private clinic where we have made arrangements for them to have this delicate surgery.

Tomorrow they will all go home seeing much better in at least one eye. It is so much fun to see the looks on their faces when they see clearly for the first time again some after many years of losing their vision little by little.

WE NOW HAVE MORE MEMBERS IN THE "FLY EYE" CLUB.

I rarely ask for donation money, but SMART needs some more donation money in the door where we can continue to be a blessing to patients like these. If you are a member of a Lion's Club, Rotary Club or other service organization or if you are a member of a church which does medical projects, please mention us to them.

Fly Eyes and Cataracts

When the people return from the cataract surgeries, they all have fly eyes. Over the last year we have performed 125 cataract surgeries. Each patient is sent home with Fly Eyes (dark sunglasses). Today I finished downloading some of the photos from some of the folks that have had cataract surgeries in 2008. There are two men in particular that I want to introduce you to.

The first is Don Theodoro. We identified that Don Theodoro needed cataract surgery when he arrived at one of our Eye Clinics in San Lorenzo, Valle, Honduras. You can see a photo of him when he arrived at the clinic to the left.

I was the hottest day of the year and he arrived in rubber boots, that is the what he works in. Don Theodoro collects cans and plastic and sells them in order to make a living. His wife sews. His children are all in school.

We always ask for an address and then when it is time for the surgery, we go track down the patient. Do Theodoro was a "BURRO". This is a nice way of saying he was VERY uncooperative!! I am 5 feet tall and I tower over Don Theodoro, BUT he is a tough cookie.

First I sent Jose "Cobra" Benavides, Ex Honduran Police Special Forces Cobra to track him down. He refused to come for surgery. Then Victor from COVA went looking for him and once again he refused. But his cataract was mature and we all knew that if he didn't have surgery soon, he would be blind. When the two men failed, I went myself.

Not only did he refuse to have surgery, but he turned around and walked away from me while I was talking to him. He made me mad, so I marched into his house and talked to his wife and children. He might have discouraged the men, but I was not going to be outdone by this shorty!

They said, "Dad does what he wants to do and no one can tell him anything." I responded, "You all have him spoiled!" I then told his wife, "Do you realize that when he is blind, one of you will have to be his eyes for him? Do you realize that he will need full time care, so instead of your daughter going to school she will have to stay home and take care of him. Instead of you being a seamstress, you will be a nurse." Then they told me, "We realize but Theodoro is going to do what he is going to do."

I then gave his wife a tip. I said, "When he comes home and asks where is dinner, tell him he needs to learn to cook now, before he is blind and can't learn, because you are not going to take care of someone who refuses to take care of himself." And I continued, "When he asks for his clothes for tomorrow you tell him he needs to learn to take care of himself, because you are not going to take care of a blind man that could have had surgery for FREE but refused."

The next morning much to my surprise Don Theodoro showed up to catch the ride to go to Tegucigalpa for his surgery. I said, "I am surprised to see you here." He said, "I am mad at you!" I said, "That is too bad. But why are you mad at me?" He responded, "Because you turned my whole family against me!" His wife stood beside him smiling from ear to ear. She was glad that he had "decided" to have his surgery. Meanwhile we did an eye exam on her and found that she also had cataracts in both eyes.

He unwillingly left for his surgery, piled into the back of the Land Rover with all the others like a bunch of sardines. But the surprise was when this "BURRO" returned! He was gentle as a lamb! Here is a photo of Don Theodoro after his surgery with his "Fly Eyes". Look at this photo and imagine, I am only 5 feet tall.

He returned saying that he could hardly wait to have his other surgery done. He wanted to send his wife to have surgery also. He wanted to hug me. He volunteered to be one of our speakers on the television program and he told it like it really was on the program. He said he was mad, he said he didn't want to go, he said he was forced by his family to go, then he said how much he appreciated the surgery. I even received another hug!

Last year was incredibly productive! We were able to identify over 450 cataracts and were able to perform surgery on 125+ of those. Hopefully this year we will identify more people with cataracts and be able to perform all of the surgeries.

In the photo to the left on the right hand side you will see a man in a blue jean jacket. This man is a pastor from a small village called Moracito. When we arrived at his church to have an eye brigade, the church was filthy! I was shocked. There was rat poop and bird poop all over the floor. My team of volunteers were appalled. We immediately started cleaning up the floor, but as we were doing so, I noticed the pastor was having problems seeing the latches on the windows to open them. It soon became crystal clear to me that he couldn't see hardly anything. I asked him if he would like to have his eyes examined, but he declined until after everyone else had received their examination. At the very end of the day we examined his eyes only to confirm my suspicion, he was almost blind from cataracts. He went for the surgery on his first eye and forgot to take his razor, he returned a few days later, seeing and thrilled! His church is now clean. He had no idea and no one had told him it was a mess. IMAGINE the change for him!

To the left is another group of "fly eyes". They all came home, to San Lorenzo part of the "Fly Eye" Club and all happy. Several will join us next month for their other eye surgery. The people do not pay anything for these surgeries. We are looking for people to donate to the cause. You can help change these people's lives!

To the left are the people all jammed into the Land Rover, returning from their trip to Tegucigalpa for their cataract surgeries.

This group had several women patients.

The newly seeing patients receiving last minute instructions prior to returning home.

A church loaned us their bus and we were able to perform surgery on more patients. Victor Montoya is standing behind all of the patients. This proves that the "Fly Eye" Club is still growing.

Dozens of Cataract Surgeries July 21-25, 2008 San Lorenzo, San Lorenzo

This week we spent in San Lorenzo, San Lorenzo. Finally we were able to start performing cataract surgeries on the people that we have found over the last 7 months of eye brigades.

In all we performed 64 cataract surgeries. AVERAGE COST $14.50 PER SURGERY.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPONSER SOME SURGERIES? FOR A GIFT OF $150.00 YOU CAN PAY FOR 10 CATARACT SURGERIES.

Waiting for the bus to arrive take them to Tegucigalpa for their surgery. All of these are cataract patients.

The bus finally arrived! All loaded and ready to go! Thank you Iglesia Vida Abundante, (Abundant Life Church) for furnishing the bus.

Ready to go to Tegucigalpa for his surgery, all dressed up with his hat.

A film completely covered both of her eyes.

There were not enough spots in the bus so we also used the Land Rover, filled to the brim. Not the softest ride, but it got the people to where they needed to be.

They all returned after the surgeries looking like raccoons with their BIG BLACK SUNGLASSES. The funny sight was the bus on the return trip with all the raccoons inside, but no one took a photo.

Dr. Sharp arrived from the USA to do the last screenings before the surgeries.