bringing eye-surgery patients from all over the Caribbean, Central and South America to the doctors who can help them.
One story I read which really haunts me concerns something I read in the Jamaica
Gleaner, I think, about a school girl who had been stricken with a tumor on one of her eyes, which had moved into the eye socket, pushing the eye downward, and disfiguring her horribly.
Adults in her community contacted Cuban medical people and they arranged a trip to Cuba, had a successful surgery, and continue to treat her on an out-patient basis until all the remaining problems are addressed successfully.
The first article I read about her was touching, as her mother was quoted as saying she and her daughter had always been so thankful to her schoolmates, as they had been very tender-hearted and loving toward her from the first, and never made her feel she was not accepted.
The others I've seen were also compelling, but the little girl's story was very keenly moving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Found a story about someone who also had eye surgery in Cuba, from Venezeula. The article says this particular program has been in effect for over 5 years.
Felix’s Miracle and the Convenio Cuba-Venezuela
by Michael Fox
August 28, 2006
Venezuelanalysis.com Printer Friendly Version
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Felix Jose Espinoza Ledesma is a cab driver in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, and one of the largest and most violent cities in South America. If not for his large print and the way his eyes squint slightly when he reads an address or a phone number, you would never guess that just over a year and a half ago, he was on his deathbed, his vision nearly completely gone, and barely struggling to stay alive.
He never thought it would happen to him. He had seen people succumb while treating patients first hand as a licensed nurse and emergency medical technician during his 35 years on the Caracas Fire Department. So when he began to notice the first symptoms: increased thirst, the loss of sensation in his feet, the loss of strength in his legs, he ignored them.
But that was before his world came crashing down around him, and the doctors confirmed what he already knew. Felix Espinoza had diabetes. A few short years later, during one of a number of sick leaves, he arrived to the offices to sign some forms and among them was his retirement. They congratulated him, shook his hand, and sent him home. Felix did not want to retire. His symptoms increased until he was unable to leave his bed. His will to live was slowly walking away.
His partner decided that something had to be done. She called his former fire department co-workers for help. A phone call that started in motion a process that Felix can only describe as a “miracle.”
(snip)
The entire program is free. Not just for the patients, but for Venezuela. Venezuela pays for the weekly flight to and from the island, for the approximate 75 patients and their companions (almost every patient is accompanied by someone)<2> each way, plus the cost of the four Cuban doctors working with the Convenio in Miraflores and some equipment on the island. The rest is all covered by Cuba: The treatment, hotels, hospitals, food, doctors, nurses, and in-country transportation. Everything is covered by Cuba. What does Cuba get in return?
(snip/...)
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10841
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