February 15-19th 2010 Dr. Scott Perkins along with several Barnet Dulaney Perkins employees traveled to Toyos, Honduras for a Cataract Surgical Mission with the non-profit organization AZ Visionaries (www.azvisionaries.org) .The members of the team included Amber Gearhart, RN Assistant Director of Nursing; Kim Nichols, RN, Phoenix Surgery Center Manager; Sarah Walczak, Ophthalmic Scrub Technician and Michelle Minta, Nurse Anesthetist and founder of AZ Visionaries. The team traveled out of Phoenix at 12:30am on February 14th and arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras at noon on the same day. All the surgical supplies including the microscope and phaco-emulsification machine (for cataract removal) traveled with the team as checked baggage on the airplane. The team then set up the operating room after unpacking the 20+ boxes of supplies and equipment. They began operating the next day on February 15th and performed 26 cataract surgeries the first day.
Most of the surgical supplies were donated by Alcon Surgical. The surgical representative from Alcon, Mathew Greer, assisted in getting the supplies donated and also proved to be an essential team member of the surgical mission.
54 Cataract surgeries were performed by Dr. Perkins. A large percentage of the patients had “hand motion” or “count fingers” vision and were blind from their cataracts. The patients went from being blind one day to seeing their family members faces for the first time in years. It was a very successful and rewarding trip for all involved.