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HAWAIIAN EYE FOUNDATION’S HELPING HAND
Volunteers attend Myanmar Eye Meeting in hopes to increase the country’s ophthalmic skills
A team of 19 volunteer faculty members with Hawaiian Eye Foundation traveled to Yangon for their second Myanmar Eye Meeting, a four-day training program for more than 100 Burmese ophthalmology residents and practicing ophthalmologists.
The program featured lectures, patient consultations, live surgery demonstrations and hands-on skills training workshops in basic ophthalmic exam techniques.
“We are really doing this for the patients of our Burmese colleagues,” said John Corboy, MD, founder and president of Hawaiian Eye Foundation. “They are the ones who benefit from the enhanced skills we impart to their surgeons.”
Myanmar has only about 300 ophthalmologists or one for every 200,000 people, only one-quarter of the World Health Organization’s target. Last year’s Myanmar Eye Meeting marked the country’s first Western eye surgical training program in decades, following its recent opening to democracy.
Hawaiian Eye Foundation was invited to return for another Myanmar Eye Meeting in 2017. In addition, the foundation is recruiting volunteer faculty for the sixth biennial Imperial City Eye Meeting (ICEM), an eye surgical training program for Vietnamese ophthalmologists, on April 6-8 in Hue, Vietnam. They request cataract surgeon volunteers to lecture or conduct wet lab phaco surgery demonstrations during the event.
For more information, email contact@hawaiianeyefoundation.org.
Finding My Calling
JANET L. HUNTER, COMT EYE SOURCE, LLC
I graduated from college with a bachelor of science in biology, with the career plan to enter medical school and become an ophthalmologist. But, I decided to take a year off before going to graduate school to reflect on my decision.
During this time, I had the great fortune to work with an ophthalmologist in Brooklyn Heights who advertised for an ophthalmic technician and was willing to train the individual. I spent 11 years with that practice and eventually became the technician clinical supervisor while earning my COT certification. Still, I was not satisfied and wanted to further my career. I became a COMT in 2003 and transitioned to manager of technical services at a leading New York City hospital ophthalmology department.
During this time, I discovered my love of teaching and decided to take the “leap of faith.” I quit my job and started Eye Source, an ophthalmology consulting company that specializes in on-site technician training, patient workflow assessment and analysis, clinical facility planning, and EMR integration. In addition, I have taught several classes for JCAHPO and SECO and have written for several publications, including Ophthalmic Professional. Also, I currently serve as an approved technical speaker and trainer for Alcon and Topcon Medical Instruments.
I work harder and longer hours than when working with a hospital or private practice, but I feel very blessed to be doing what I love.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “Finding My Calling” gives ophthalmic professionals the opportunity to share their unique career path, including steps they’ve taken to earn their current position. If you have an interesting story, email zackary.tertel@pentavisionmedia.com.
In Brief
Enzymatic cleaner joint position
In a joint statement, ASCRS, AAO, and OOSS discouraged using enzymatic detergents to clean contaminated intraocular instruments. The statement cited the connection between enzymatic detergents and corneal endothelial toxicity. In addition, the inappropriate use or incomplete rinsing of enzymatic detergents has been associated with outbreaks of toxic anterior segment syndrome, or TASS, the organizations said.
EnFocus receives approval
Bioptigen, a division of Leica Microsystems, received FDA clearance to market its EnFocus intrasurgical OCT system. When mounted to ophthalmic surgical microscopes, EnFocus allows high-resolution visualization of ocular tissue microstructure during ophthalmic surgery. EnFocus is compatible with common retina fundus viewing systems.
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