Concord Eye Center ophthalmologist Dr. Erin Fogel will join SEE International (seeintl.org) and the Friends of Haiti organization, in cooperation with Haitian affiliate Double Harvest, on a cataract surgery mission later this month.
While in Port-au-Prince, some in the group, including Fogel herself, will perform three days of cataract surgeries on patients in need, while others will be teaching surgical techniques to residents in a Haitian medical school.
“I have been waiting a long time to do something like this,” Fogel said. “I’ve never been to Haiti but the desperate need of the people there makes it even more compelling to go and to do what I can to help.”
And Fogel, of Bow, can certainly help. She has been a surgeon at Concord Eye Center since 1994, where she performs cataract, cornea and LASIK surgeries as well as more complex intraocular lens exchanges, among others. “For this trip, we will be operating on adults with cataracts,” she explained. “The organization makes six surgical trips each year – only two of them to perform surgery for children.”
Forgel had originally scheduled the trip last year, but it had to be canceled due to Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest storms in recent memory that was blamed for at least one death in Haiti.
When asked how she was feeling as the trip approached, Fogel said, “I am both nervous and excited, of course. I mean, I am totally confident in my surgical skills and feel great about helping people who don’t have access to the care we can provide, but the environment will be very different from the surgical suites at Concord Hospital. I am really looking forward to the whole experience and hope it all works out because I can absolutely see myself doing something like this every year.”
President of Concord Eye Center, Dr. Eliot Foley, concluded, “All of us at the practice are very proud when our doctors perform these good works. We wish Erin the very best on her trip.”
Concord Eye Center
