Optical Screening (Visual Acuity) was handled with level of patience and care that kept the throngs of people often waiting in the room mesmerized with respect for Peter King.  He really has what it takes to keep things in line and rolling along productively, which can sometimes be difficult.  Persephone Brown worked in screening this year with Peter King, but also handled registration interviews and precise picking in the dispensary.  A triple threat!

Optometry 2007  With 13 optometrists  seeing patients for the four days, we were well staffed with skilled practitioners of eye exam.  Once again the roster of ODs is filled out with veterans who make the return trip in January as predictably as a bird in migration.   The optometrists on the trip this year included a preponderance of NEVOSH veterans, including Larry Ginsberg OD, Carl Sakovits OD,  Ken Cottrell OD, Ben Peters OD, Ken Warburton OD,  Jamesina Chim OD, Rocco Robilotto OD, Lara Alami OD, Hernando Alfonso OD, Jackson Lau OD, and Jane Bucci OD.  Super world traveler and southern gentleman Ken Cottrell OD brought Donnie Akers OD, who fit right in from the first day.  Harry Hart OD was in attendance at the inaugural mission in 1987 and returned this year with VOSH spirit to share.

The 5 optometric students came from SUNY NYC's NEVOSH club, which has been an absolutely integral part of the clinics that NEVOSH has assembled.  The students in attendance were able to see first hand good examples of pathologies that are more rare in the US, a learning benefit of treating so many people in a tropical latitude.  The acceptance to travel with SUNY VOSH is an honor in itself, and the students this year came with open eyes and a team spirit that served them well.  Congratulations to Hanish Patel, Kristine Zabala, Attefa Sultani, Alice Phan and Amanda Fronhofer for being selected to receive the sponsored trip. 

The Pharmacy crew are always keeping the mood light and humorous.  They often spend time endlessly counting out pills, perhaps this is the reason they find ways to dance around and laugh together when they are temporarily free of the counting chore.  They are always helpful in explaining the medications they are distributing and every year the people of the community express their specific affection for the job that the Pharmacy staff does.  The pharmacy staff is presented with gifts from those they have helped and are always very touched by that.  With veterans galore, the Pharmacy was in tip top form.  The pharmacy was well stocked, with many thanks due to those companies and individuals who donated medications for the staff to dispense.   Forming the core of the Pharmacy team this year were veterans Eileen Tiexiera RN, Diane Brown King RN, Diane Forest RN and Cheryl Kelley RN.

Two people that help to make the annual trip possible are Dr. Miguel Silva  and his lovely wife Velia Silva.  They help to coordinate the trip from the earliest site selection and planning stages to the completion of the mission.  Being a retired Optometrist from Seattle who is of Nicaraguan blood, Dr. Silva is helpful in facilitation in both the US and Nicaragua.  Dr. Silva is very diplomatic and acts as a liaison with government officials in the town where the clinic is set up.  Dr. and Mrs. Silva assure that the library of donated glasses and wheelchairs is on site and ready when the clinic begins.  Following find an excerpt from the 2004 Mission Report regarding Dr. Silva and his lovely wife: Once everything is on the boat, it takes about a month to get to Nicaragua.  Once there, it needs to be removed from the container, placed on trucks, and moved to a secure facility.  Luckily, we had trusted people working on the Nicaraguan end.  First and foremost is Miguel Silva.  Miguel is an optometrist of Nicaraguan descent who lived and worked in the Seattle area for many years with his wife Velia.  In December 2002, they “retired” and moved back to the Masaya province of Nicaragua.  I put the word retired in quotation marks because since they arrived in Nicaragua, Miguel has worked very hard on a great deal of projects, only one of which is our mission.  Without him, the mission would have been far more difficult to organize, and quite likely would not have been successful. Miguel and representatives of the mayor of Nindiri met the shipment of glasses and wheelchairs from the boat and transported them to a secure location in Nindiri.  But this is not the only thing that was done locally.  Before beginning an undertaking such as a VOSH mission, you must have an organization working to make sure everything is taken care of locally.  Read more of the 2004 Mission Report by Jonathan Wasserstein, OD

This year at the final group dinner at the Alhambra in Grenada, Dr. Vidal Ruiz MD of Ticuantepe, Nicaragua was honored with a hand carved figurine for his continued involvement in the annual visit by NEVOSH.

Angeles Bermúdez Perez
President
Masaya Rotary Club