Dr. Jacobs and his wife Jenny were delightful to work with. Jenny was so fun to travel around with. At the closing ceremony there was press coverage and some good publicity for the Church. We feel we have made some awesome friends with this project.
Dr. Jacobs would have classes with the Drs. then they would see and screen patients. In the afternoon they did the procedures. Three Drs. were trained so that this treatment can be provided in Portoviejo, otherwise people would have to travel to Quito or Guayaquil which they can not afford.
These are a few of the people we visited during the week. The Foundation is doing a wonderful work in helping these people integrate into the community. The children in the schools were so helpful and kind to classmates with vision challenges, it was wonderful to witness.
Yolanda Loor de Ávila the director of the Foundation Dr. Oswaldo Loor. The Foundations was started by the family to honor their father Dr. Loor. Yolanda is dynamite, entusiastic and very organized, it has been so fun to get to know her.
Our first evening there we had a very nice dinner to met everyone and get acquinted.
NOVEMBER 12-19, 2011
I don´t really know how to do a post on this project. I feel that this one project has been totally worth our 18 months in Ecuador. It started as a request by a woman we met on the USNS Comfort for some wheelchairs for a vision clinic in her home town of Portoviejo. As we found out more about this Foundation and Clinic we were very impressed. We contacted them and asked if there was something they needed that we might be able to help with. They requested a surgical microscope to help with cataract surgeries. Our short term specialiest asked if they had need or desire for any type of training. They were so excited when we offered this option and requested to have training in laser treatment for Diabetic Retenopothy. Dr. and Sister Jacobs accepted the call to come for a week and do the training. While Dr. Jacobs was teaching the three Drs. from the clinic we were taken out into the countryside to visit schools and persons in the community that the foundation helps. These are blind or low vision persons that are given training, low interest loans to start small businesses, equipment for use in school and volunteers to help them in their school work. We were so impressed with the work this Foundation is doing and were so blessed to have found them and worked with them. This training will enable the Drs to help thousands of people in this area with treatment to help slow or halt blindness.
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