2014 VOSH-NECO Eye Care Trip to Dominican Republic

 

I was fortunate enough to be part of the 2014 VOSH trip to the Dominican Republic. The Volunteer Optometric Services for Humanity – NECO chapter has been going to DR for the past few years in an effort to create sustainable eye care in it’s underdeveloped areas. Collaborating with the Batey Relief Alliance (B.R.A.) , this year’s group consisted of 21 students and 5 Optometrists. Together we were able to see just under 1,000 patients in our makeshift eye clinic, running 5 days in Batey Gonzalo of Monte Plata. Bateys are known as villages of migrant farmers/sugarcane workers and their families. This particular Batey had approximately 4,000 residents. We’d work with approximately 175 patients per day. Since Spanish is the predominate language spoken, our team was forced to brush up on our Espanol. A few of the doctors on the trip were fluent in Spanish and had a lot of words/phrases to share with us! The majority of our patient referrals we made were for either bad diabetic retinopathy or severe cataracts.

Day 1 – 4/5/14 Saturday……..Our group arrived safely in Santo Domingo from Boston, sometime in the wee hours of the early morning. Our hotel accommodations were close by in Boca Chica, DR. After getting some sleep, we made a site visit to the Batey Village in Monte Plata where we’d be serving Sunday through Thursday. The clinic was just over an hour commute from where we were staying. Upon arrival, the village kids helped the team unload our supplies, equipment, and moved tables and furniture to accommodate the patients. It was neat to see how these people lived so simply. It was normal to be surrounded by stray dogs, chickens, cows, cats, and horses. Some locals would ride a horse into town as their means of transportation. Motorcycles were also abundant.

Thanks to Dr. Bill Sleight for building/donating these crates to us a while back.

Dr. Ana Celia helped us immensely by transitioning the line of patients into clinic. Taking brief case histories and blood pressure readings. 

Shown here is a field of decapitated palm trees, waiting to regrow. The oil is harvested and used for food products, cosmetics, detergents, and biofuel.

One of our group leaders, Kylie, gathered us together before clinic to give us a history and overview of Batey Gonzalo and it's residents.

Retinoscopy session w/ Lauren and Anita

Clockwise: Adrian gettin posterior pole views w/ the direct O. Luke hitting the periphery w/ the BIO. Kelly taking a thorough/bilingual case history, and Anita examining this guy's anterior segment w/ the handheld slitlamp!

 Day 2 – 4/6/14 Sunday…….First day of clinic. Since our group was fairly large, we were able to transition into the patient flow quite well. We had 9 trial frame refraction lanes going, an entrance testing station, dilation station, and the optical/checkout area. Patients would line up outside the building and be asked a case history about their eyes and systemic health. Pretty much all patients walked out with sun glasses (“lentes para el sol”), reading and/or distance glasses. All the kids got toys to bring home. Any glasses prescription that we couldn’t provide for was special ordered and sent back to the village a few months later. We also gave lots of artificial tears, and various eye drops for allergies, inflammation, glaucoma, and bacterial infections. Each of the 5 doctors would rotate around the stations to collaborate with students and facilitate patient flow.

The Doctors of the group! Jen Liao, Devina Patel, Kristin White, Bina Patel and Mina Sehizadeh

Day 3 – 4/7/14 Monday………….Today was great because our group got into the flow of what to expect with patient flow and how to multitask/help eachother between the stations. At this point we were also starting to improve on our Spanish phrases, and able to hold broken conversations with patients. We saw several patients with Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy in their unfortunate advanced stages.

We saw a patient with Bell’s palsy secondary to a longstanding acoustic neuroma. He had told us of a growth by his ear which had affected his facial nerve (muscles of facial expression/eye closure are inactive on his whole right side). As eye doctors we’re concerned of the eyes being exposed/infected since the eyelids don’t completely close. Seen here, we’re asking him to close his lids tightly, smile, and puff out his cheeks, all of which are compromised on his right.

Thanks to Angelina, Julio and Kylie for being so helpful w/ their bilingual skills and translating for us all week. "Tengo mucho flow con mi rayas"

Today, Ting and Kristin took it upon themselves to do everyone's hair in variations of braids.

When an interesting case presented, Dr. Patel would pull some of the students aside for "teaching moments". There is some truth to say that you don't really see/learn a condition until you see it in clinic!

For lunch we’d eat mainly chicken, rice, beans, cassava root, salad and fruit. It was a nice spread. We’d get ~30 minutes to stop & recenter ourselves before the afternoon shift, ending around 6pm each evening. We’d get consistent afternoon thunderstorms each day. The Floridians on the trip were accustomed to this as well as to the “humidity”/roaches/lizards Haha. The tin roof over our building would leak in many areas, but never stopped us from seeing patients! On our way home tonight we stopped at the local grocery store to stock up on the country’s amazing coffee, chocolate and other goodies. It was neat to see the locals in the store insist that we cut to the front of the checkout line since they had much more groceries than some of us did.

Day 4 – 4/8/14 Tuesday……………Another day at clinic. Time was moving fast, and I couldn’t believe we were already into day 3 of our work. We had some down time on the bus ride each morning, so Ting decided to share her phone w/ all 26 of us, enabling us to make free international texts to our loved ones (T-mobile? Thanks!) From the back of the bus, I’d hear her yell “who’s number is 860xxxx or Kevin, Mom responded, haha).

After another long day, Julio had us stop on the way back and try some Empanadas and 40 ounces of the local beer. He risked his life running across a busy highway for us, holding arms full of these. Thanks again Julio! The group got out and walked down by the ocean together with our food. More memories and photo ops.

We had several Bday's on the trip, including Laura's. Here we're out @ dinner to celebrate!

Back @ our hotel, we had this awesome dude cuttin us up some fresh coconuts to drink

Day 5 – 4/9/14 Wednesday………We arrived at the site today to see a big line of people waiting to be seen. I think today was the day that was advertised as “kid’s day”. So we got to see lots of them! It was also this day that I finally started to feel confident with my direct ophthalmoscope, spotting several edematous and swollen optic nerves.

Later this evening, Kylie and I decided it would be fun to make a field trip to the local barber shop and get creative with my appearance. I just wanted to immerse myself in the culture, including the hair style. I ended up with 3 lines on the side of my head and a trimmed up beard. Thanks again, Luis the barber!

Docs, you guys rock!

Day 6 – 4/10/14 Thursday………..Our 5^th and final day : ( Went by too quick. The local baton ballet dancers came to perform for us at the end of our day. Consisting of intense drumming, whistles, dancing and gymnastics, it was quite a way to end our day. The president of the Batey Relief Alliance also made an appearance to thank us. 

I also got the chance to take this little guy for a walk. So hyper!

Day 7 - 4/11/14 Friday………… Today was our one off day set aside for some good ol’ R & R. After spending 5 clinic days going nonstop on our feet, most of us were content with hanging on the beach and doing absolutely nothing. Some of the group went exploring in the shops of downtown Boca Chica, some took a catamaran boat out to snorkel around a nearby island - Happy Bday Tamara! – while some of the girls decided to get their hair done up Dominican Style and get braids/beads in the side of their head.

We also ended up going for a short run along the beach that ended inside a big marina. We were lucky to have gotten a private tour of all the boats, and ended up hanging out on the M.V. Van Straelen with a group of hospitable sailors from the Netherlands. "Noordzeecharter, Volkerak"

I would first like to thank God for flooding our hearts with the desire to serve, and enabling us to use Optometry as a platform for it. I would like to thank of all of the Doctors of Optometry that led this trip including Bina Patel, Devina Patel, Mina Sehizadeh, Kristin White, and Jen Liao. Huge Thanks is owed to student VOSH presidents Jen Williams and Amy Burke for all the behind the scenes work leading up to the trip, and for keeping our group one cohesive unit. Big thanks to Kylie Culver, Julio, Dr. Ana Celia Carrero and everyone at the Batey Relief Alliance for helping orchestrate this trip, the clinic, and the logistics for once we showed up. www.bateyrelief.org Also, thanks to everyone who donated money, equipment, glasses, or eye drops to our group, including Alcon!

Back @ the airport awaiting our redeye flight back to Boston. Instead of glasses, our carry-on's are bringing back some Dominican warmth and sunshine to the northeast.