DOOLEY INTERMED INTERNATIONAL
Media contact:
Jeff Blumenfeld
Blumenfeld and Assoc. PR
U.S. MEDICAL TEAM SETS SIGHTS ON
CURING BLINDNESS IN REMOTE GORKHA REGION OF
NEPAL
Restore Vision Expedition Targets
1,800 Villagers in Impoverished Roadless Region
NEW
YORK, N.Y. (February 19, 2015) – Blindness is a severe public health
problem in Nepal, especially in the remote mountain villages. This spring the
Dooley Intermed International 2015 Restore Vision Expedition will provide free
eye examinations, eyeglasses and sight-restoring surgeries to villagers in the
Upper Gorkha region of Nepal from May 1 to 10, 2015.
Due to the extremely remote location
and lack of roads, the team will travel on foot across mountain trails while
transporting equipment using a mule caravan, according to Dooley Intermed
president Scott Hamilton, expedition leader.
“We will take all comers and treat
everyone free of charge. A multi-day eye screening camp will be established in
the central village of Machhakhola, including a field surgery clinic with
skilled surgeons providing cataract operations and related ophthalmic
treatment. Screening will also be conducted at a primary school in the village
of Lapu Besi,” Hamilton said.
The eye and vision team will examine and treat 1,500 to 1,800
villagers in need of eye care, including comprehensive eye screening,
refraction, prescription eyeglasses, cataract and other ophthalmic surgeries.
Primary team members are: Scott
Hamilton, COT, expedition leader; Sanjay Kedhar, M.D. and Harsha Reddy, M.D., New York Eye & Ear Infirmary of Mt. Sinai, New
York; Indira Kairam,
M.D., Mt. Sinai St. Lukes, New York; Omar Ozgur, M.D., University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,
Houston; Christopher
Teng, M.D., Yale University School
of Medicine, New Haven; filmmaker
Daniel Byers, Skyship Films; and Jeff Blumenfeld, communications director,
Expedition News.
This effort will be coordinated
closely with partner organizations including U.S. eye surgeons and technicians
from ISMS-Operation Restore Vision, and Dooley’s Nepal-based partners
including: Pema Ts’al Sakya Monastic Institute, providing student
volunteers as trilingual interpreters and eye camp assistants; Himalaya Eye
Hospital providing an eye screening team and surgeon, medical and
ophthalmological supplies, surgical equipment, eyeglasses; Mission Himalaya
facilitating logistics and in–country arrangements; and the local Nepal chapter
of Lions International.
The Gorkha District of Nepal, located
northwest of the capital city of Kathmandu, is connected historically with the
name of the legendary Gurkha soldiers. It is along a trekking route and is home
to Manaslu, the
eighth highest mountain in the world (26,781 ft.).
In
addition to Dooley Intermed International, the expedition is sponsored by ISMS-Operation
Restore Vision (www.ismission.org/operation-restore-vision/), Sherpa Adventure Gear which is
providing Nepal-manufactured outdoor apparel for the team (www.sherpaadventuregear.com),
and Eureka High Camp Tents by Johnson Outdoors (www.eurekatent.com).
Supporters are:
DeLorme inReach Explorer Two-Way Satellite Communicator with built-in
Navigation, and Power Practical Portable Chargers.
Dooley
Intermed’s 2011 Gift of Sight Expedition to the Upper Mustang region was
featured in the award-winning documentary titled Visions of Mustang (2012), by director Daniel Byers and produced by
Skyship Films. See the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/38847615
The team’s 2013 sight-restoring expedition to the Lower
Mustang region of Nepal can be seen in the nine-minute “Gift of Sight”
documentary posted to www.dooleyintermed.org.
The
expedition will issue daily blogs on Facebook and Twitter that will also be
posted to www.dooleyintermed.org.
Additional
sponsorship support is being sought. For more information, contact Scott
Hamilton, hamilton@dooleyintermed.org.
# #
#
2-18-15
No comments:
Post a Comment