Mision Claridad 2024
In October of this year, Mision Claridad returned to Cuenca, Ecuador, with 14 team members and approximately 20 hockey bags full of equipment and supplies. While the main goal of the mission is to deliver cataract surgery, an optometry arm that provides eye exams and glasses has also been part of the mission since it began. Our eyes are our most important sensory organs, and providing individuals with the opportunity to enjoy good vision is what both the ophthalmology and the optometry team members strive to do.
Team departing from Edmonton.
This year, Misión Claridad had a unique twist. The mission’s organizers have always worked with Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health to ensure that the ophthalmology team provides cataract surgery to those who most need it. (Approximately 40% of Ecuadoreans live below the poverty level and are unable to pay for cataract surgery, which is generally only offered in private hospitals at a cost of $2000-$2500 USD per eye.) But, this year, instead of working in one of Cuenca’s well-equipped private hospitals, the cataract team worked in one of the Ministry’s public hospitals, Hospital Homero Castanier Crespo, located in Azogues, a small city located about 40 minutes northeast of the colonial city of Cuenca.
Until last year, Hospital Homero Castanier Crespo didn’t have the equipment to perform cataract surgery. Misión Claridad changed that. Working with an ophthalmic equipment and supply company based in Alberta, the organizers were able to obtain, at minimal cost, a suite of ophthalmic equipment that was shipped to Ecuador in 2023 and installed at the hospital in Azogues. The goal: to enable the hospital to provide cataract surgery year-round and for years to come, thereby making it totally accessible to individuals with limited resources, since health services provided by the Ministry of Public Health in Ecuador are free to its clients.
In October, using the donated equipment, Misión Claridad’s surgical team, consisting of an ophthalmologist, an ophthalmology resident, and four nurses, worked side-by-side with an Ecuadorean ophthalmology team, sharing skills and expertise regarding surgical techniques, equipment sterilization, and patient management and care. Cataract surgery was performed on 38 patients who now enjoy improved vision and a better quality of life, and the hospital’s ophthalmology team now has the capability to carry out these surgeries on its own.
The optometry team of Misión Claridad, consisting of an optometrist, two opticians, and three assistants, worked in Hospital Homero Castanier Crespo for three days, offering its services to clients of the Ministry of Public Health. The team also spent one day in a low-income community on the outskirts of Cuenca and another day at a school for youth and adults with developmental disabilities. Approximately 500 individuals received eye exams, and 250 pairs of glasses will be made for those individuals who were determined to need corrective eyewear. In February of 2025, Paul and Cynthia Dusseault, the mission’s organizers will return to Cuenca with those glasses and deliver them to the individuals.
Misión Claridad is a joint project of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Riverview and Club Rotario Tomebamba, the Cuenca Rotary club that provides local support, interpreters, assistance with the complicated paperwork involved in carrying out the project, and so much more. Finally, this project would not have been possible without the financial support of the following Alberta Rotary clubs: Rotary Club of Calgary Stampede Park, Rotary Club of Calgary Downtown, Rotary Club of Edmonton Glenora, Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield, Rotary Club of Edmonton South and the Rotary Club of Fairview.
The partnership with Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health has opened to door to several other opportunities to engage in missions/projects in the region where Cuenca is located. In February, Paul and Cynthia will be meeting with Ministry officials to discuss the evolution of Misión Claridad as well as other potential health-related projects.