Eye Examinations In Santa Cruz, Bolivia

July 21, 2018

 Dear Staff at Keeler Instruments, 

I want to sincerely thank you for your support for our medical mission trip to Santa Cruz, Bolivia on July 06-14, 2018. I was the only optometrist on the trip, in collaboration with various other health care professionals such as physicians, pharmacists, and dentists. In preparation for the trip, I collected over 500 pairs of donated prescription glasses, sunglasses and around 400 pairs of reading glasses. I also contacted a couple of companies for loans and donations such as Keeler for the wonderful portable slit lamp, and OptiMark and Topcon, who had graciously donated trial lens sets. Over 6 days of seeing patients, I, with the aid of my assistants and translators, was able to provide basic eye care to around 200 patients coming from Santa Cruz and its neighboring villages.

 The process of an examination started with an anterior segment health evaluation with Keeler’s portable slit lamp. After, I checked the back of the eye for any pathology using my own Keeler direct ophthalmoscope and then performed dry retinoscopy with my own Keeler retinoscope to determine their refractive error. The patients were then given sunglasses, prescription glasses, reading glasses, artificial tears or ophthalmic medication, depending on their needs. I was the busiest by far in comparison to the rest of the medical professionals. This made my services very valuable to the patients, who were very grateful to me and our whole team. This simply would not have been possible without Keeler’s generous loan of the slit lamp, as it was vital in diagnosing very common ocular pathologies, such as dry eyes and cataracts. On behalf of all our CMANA crew, we wish to thank you for your support and your donation for our cause.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steve Iskander