The Board of Directors of the Retina Research Foundation has approved a charitable Eye Mission in San Pedro, Belize, at its annual meeting on January 23, 2007.  The Eye Mission is organized in conjunction with a local charitable organization, the Belize Council of Visually Impaired (BCVI). U.S. trained voluntary faculty travels to San Pedro and Belize City to provided eye care for the needy population in the Lions Polyclinic or National Eye Clinic (NEC).

Currently there is no eye care in San Pedro and the only 3 ophthalmologists in the entire country are located in Belize City. The native population has no health insurance. Funding for BCVI has been drastically cut and the single previous full time NEC ophthalmologist left the country.

The first mission took place on April 6 -14, 2007 with 3 trips in 2007 and 4 in 2008. The foundation will organize additional trips on an ongoing basis to provide continuing eye care to the native population of San Pedro. Please visit the mission calendar for future dates. This will be an ongoing project without an anticipated expiration date. The foundation has also requested donations of equipment and topical eye medications for glaucoma and anterior segment eye diseases. Medications will be transported to Belize by Mission staff physicians at each scheduled trip. The Mission will set up an ophthalmology examination lane in the Lions Club Polyclinic (below photograph) with equipment provided by the B.C.V.I. or the Foundation.

Retinal Surgery:

With the assistance of Drs. David & Yolanda Hoy in Belize City, the Eye Mission has been able to provide vitreo-retinal surgery services and Avastin intravitreal injections at the Hoy Eye Center. Dr. Hoy has made his operating suite available for mission patients and has generously contributed his own time and the the time of his staff for free for charity patients from BCVI, other missions and elsewhere in the country. We were fortunate to obtain vitrectomy supplies from US sponsors.

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