INTRO
[00:10 – 00:44]
-- Hunter Cherwek:
[00:10] It’s fair to say that 2020 did not turn out the way any of us expected.
I’m Dr. Hunter Cherwek, Vice President of Clinical Services at Orbis International.
You might know Orbis from our Flying Eye Hospital, which is a teaching hospital on board an MD-10 aircraft. It’s pretty incredible.
I was supposed to be traveling with the Flying Eye Hospital this year, bringing training programs to local eye health teams around the world.
Instead, like many of you, I’m working from home here in Virginia. But it's tough to complain. My team and my family are healthy and I am grateful for all that we are doing now with Orbis. [00:44]
[00:44- 01:10]
-- Hunter Cherwek:
[00:44] Really, though, I’d much prefer to be on the Flying Eye Hospital. Because for me, the fight against global blindness isn’t just a job – it’s a calling.
I knew very early on in my career – while I was still in med school – what I wanted to do.
There aren’t many professions where a 10 or 20 minute cataract procedure can change not only an individual's life, but a family. You don't need an intensive care unit, you don't need blood transfusions; we can do cataract surgery almost anywhere and that can change someone’s life forever. [01:10]
[01:10 - 02:16]
-- Hunter Cherwek:
[01:10] So, in 2005, the day I finished my ophthalmology residency, I joined the Flying Eye Hospital team and I never looked back.
It’s been a heartbreaking decision to ground the Flying Eye Hospital when COVID hit. But just because things haven’t gone as planned this year, doesn’t mean that our fight against global blindness has come to a halt. [01:31]
[01:31] From here in Virginia, I’m working with my colleagues around the world to innovate, adapt and create new solutions and ways to move forward.
And that’s what Sightlines is about. I’ll be your host for this series looking at how Orbis is responding to COVID and tackling the overwhelming challenge of global blindness.
Together we’ll explore how the pandemic is adding new challenges to this fight and how the spirit of innovation that led our founders to put a hospital on board a plane is helping us overcome those challenges.[02:03]
[02:03]There are some things we can’t do right now, but right now we’re focused on what we can do and what we're doing very well. Before we get going, let’s take a look at why global blindness matters so much and what’s being done about it. [02:16]
[02:18 - 03:20]
-- Hunter Cherwek:
[02:18] Here’s the problem. Hundreds of millions of people around the world are blind or visually impaired. And most don’t have to be. An astonishing 75% of these cases could be treated – or even altogether prevented. I’m constantly thinking about how much good could be done in the world by restoring the eyesight to these millions of people. What it would mean for the people’s individual lives, for local economies, for education, healthcare, and the cycle of poverty.[02:43]
[02:43] And the thing is, we can bring the gift of sight to millions of people.
The remedies, very often, are quite straightforward. A pair of glasses, a 10-minute cataract surgery, an annual dose of antibiotics to prevent an infectious, blinding disease called trachoma. These things alone could restore sight or prevent blindness for millions of children and millions of adults. [03:07]
[03:07] The challenge is to get this sight-saving care to people who currently don’t have access in places like Bangladesh, Peru, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Bolivia, India, Guyana, and beyond. Right now, that’s a bigger challenge than ever. [03:20]
[03:23- 04:25]
-- Hunter Cherwek:
[03:23] Orbis’s mission is to work with a network of partners around the world to mentor, train and inspire local teams to fight blindness in their communities.
Training is at the very heart of what we do – because it takes a skilled worker to do eye exams, perform cataract surgeries, and get that sight-saving care to the people who need it. But in-person training projects aren’t possible right now. So, what can we do? A lot. [03:47]
[03:49] First, we’re taking steps to support our partner hospitals around the world. That means helping them implement safety measures so that emergency eye care – for conditions that must be treated immediately – can still be delivered as safely as possible.
Second, we’re looking at how programs can be reshaped and optimized for the current situation. In India, for instance, Orbis has a long-running program called REACH that provides basic eye screenings and glasses to children in schools.
With schools closed, however, the usual REACH activities can’t happen. So instead, REACH teams have been redeployed to help treat emergency eye cases in hospitals. [04:25]
[04:27 - 05:35]
-- Hunter Cherwek:
[04:27] What about the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital? Well, it was supposed to be in Zambia, Cameroon, Mongolia, and India this year. And nothing can replace the hands-on training that would have happened on board. But while the plane is grounded, we’ve moved the training projects online. Our team has crafted online courses tailored to the needs of each country’s ophthalmologists, residents, nurses, biomedical engineers and technicians who would have been joining us on board the Flying Eye Hospital. [04:53]
