Lowell and Ruth Gess UMC Eye Hospital

The staff is scheduling two trips a week if the weather permits, which they bring in patients. The patients are screened in the villages and if medical treatment is needed they are brought to the eye hospital, housed and fed while they are recovering from medical treatment, and transported back to their homes. The need is tremendous. Our goal is to expand this program so that many more people can receive treatment. Funding, of course, is the major need.

The primary goal of this project is to ensure the highest quality of eye care delivered to the people of Sierra Leone. Quality surgery with exceptional surgical outcomes has been the mantra of the program throughout all the years of its existence. Most recently, the Gess UMC Eye Hospital has been at the forefront in the research being conducted on Ebola survivors. The eye hospital daily treats patients in whom the Ebola virus persists after the individual no longer tests positive for Ebola. In addition, through the use of a donated computerized portable projection system, the eye hospital is currently developing a Glaucoma Awareness Program which will be presented throughout the country to educate people about this “silent thief” of vision. The long-term effects of this program are numerous: Delivery of quality eye care; expansion of quality eye care; and, increasing the number of people to whom care is made available are primary goals. Support of research in the area of infectious disease has been added in response to the Ebola virus and its effect on the delivery of eye care.

We would like to see that more people will be afforded the opportunity for eye care. Through greater availability, it is hoped that blindness from glaucoma can be eradicated; cataract surgery can be made available to more people regardless of their area of residence or ability to pay; and that general eye health care can reach more people in the rural areas of the country.