The Orbis International Flying Eye Hospital landed at the Ottawa airport Tuesday and opened its doors to the public. Dr. Brian Leonard, above, an eye surgeon at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute, showed visitors through the aircraft's operating room. Photograph by: Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Citizen
Thirty years ago when I was operating a local branch of the Canadian Diabetes Association, I was first introduced to the humanitarian behind the professional. Little did I imagine, back then, that I would at some future date require his professional expertise, personally. Even back then, in the early 1980s, he was a much-admired highly-skilled opthalmologist who gave of his time and experience in under-developed countries.
He's still at it, as a senior citizen and senior eye surgeon at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute. Long associated with a charitable institute, called Orbis International, his philanthropy and that of many others who have signed on to this very special mission has paid off handsomely in the numbers of medical-eye practitioners that they have trained in Third-World countries (emerging economies, likely more politically correct) over the decades.
"The cockpit is state-of-the-art 1969. Everything after that - state-of-the-art 2011. When we operate in the hospital, it's quiet and serene. We talk to each other in hushed tones, (with) quiet music." I personally experienced that, less than a year ago, when a vitrectomy was done on my left eye. "We have surgeons teaching surgeons, nurses teaching nurses, anesthetists teaching anesthetists, and bio-medical engineers teaching others.
"It's an enormous pressure cooker of activity. the visiting surgeons here have to be gifted surgeons at the top of their game. They have to bring their A-game every time they come. The value (of the aircraft; the fully-state-of-the-art-equipped DC 10 that was flown in to Ottawa for demonstration/education purposes) is educational and development(al). We could have a thousand of these airplanes worldwide and not make a dent in the problem."
Still, the Orbis charitable-educational mission has trained 88,000 opthalmic surgeons and 200,000 nurses in the use of new techniques. And it is reasonable to assume that those who have been trained not only go out into the field and practise their newfound expertise, but they also transfer the knowledge and experience they have gained to other practitioners, thereby expanding the gift to the world that Orbis International has initiated.
Since 1983, this surgical opthalmologist, Dr. Brian Leonard, has been on over 70 volunteer missions with the airborne hospital. He is now president of the board of directors of Orbis Canada, having travelled through much of Asia, Africa, parts of the Middle East, and South America. In the process he has assisted in curing 17 million people of blindness, much of it preventable, albeit common in under-developed countries of the world.
But it did not. I was, in fact, informed that the original condition which had necessitated the vitrectomy I had undergone less than a year previously, had re-occurred; another small hole has appeared in the centre of my retina. We take so much for granted, that all complement of organs and natural resources will never be compromised by anything, let alone age.
And then, inevitably, we age.
He's still at it, as a senior citizen and senior eye surgeon at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute. Long associated with a charitable institute, called Orbis International, his philanthropy and that of many others who have signed on to this very special mission has paid off handsomely in the numbers of medical-eye practitioners that they have trained in Third-World countries (emerging economies, likely more politically correct) over the decades.
"The cockpit is state-of-the-art 1969. Everything after that - state-of-the-art 2011. When we operate in the hospital, it's quiet and serene. We talk to each other in hushed tones, (with) quiet music." I personally experienced that, less than a year ago, when a vitrectomy was done on my left eye. "We have surgeons teaching surgeons, nurses teaching nurses, anesthetists teaching anesthetists, and bio-medical engineers teaching others.
"It's an enormous pressure cooker of activity. the visiting surgeons here have to be gifted surgeons at the top of their game. They have to bring their A-game every time they come. The value (of the aircraft; the fully-state-of-the-art-equipped DC 10 that was flown in to Ottawa for demonstration/education purposes) is educational and development(al). We could have a thousand of these airplanes worldwide and not make a dent in the problem."
Still, the Orbis charitable-educational mission has trained 88,000 opthalmic surgeons and 200,000 nurses in the use of new techniques. And it is reasonable to assume that those who have been trained not only go out into the field and practise their newfound expertise, but they also transfer the knowledge and experience they have gained to other practitioners, thereby expanding the gift to the world that Orbis International has initiated.
Since 1983, this surgical opthalmologist, Dr. Brian Leonard, has been on over 70 volunteer missions with the airborne hospital. He is now president of the board of directors of Orbis Canada, having travelled through much of Asia, Africa, parts of the Middle East, and South America. In the process he has assisted in curing 17 million people of blindness, much of it preventable, albeit common in under-developed countries of the world.
"We do it every day and never jaded to it. What could be more special than restoring sight to a blind person."I am not blind, not close to it. I still have one eye unimpeded by age-related problems, other than the usual dimming of vision due to lens-hardening. The other, the one that was operated on, well, the operation was a success, although the scar tissue from the surgery at the back of the eye still left me with vision contortion. Which, it was hoped, would ameliorate as time progressed.
But it did not. I was, in fact, informed that the original condition which had necessitated the vitrectomy I had undergone less than a year previously, had re-occurred; another small hole has appeared in the centre of my retina. We take so much for granted, that all complement of organs and natural resources will never be compromised by anything, let alone age.
And then, inevitably, we age.
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