Madison Rotarians help Honduran villagers with eye care, glasses
A boy in Honduras proudly wears sunglasses he received from Dr. Michael St. Peter, at right, with EyeCare Associates. St. Peter and other Rotary Club of Madison members set up vision clinics in Honduras. (CONTRIBUTED)
MADISON – Individuals in Honduras now can read books, magazines and Bible verses after help from Rotary Club of Madison.
Rotarian Dr. Michael St. Peter with EyeCare Associates of Madison collected portable diagnostic equipment and supplies to transport over rough terrain to Honduran villages.
“We brought about 1,000 pairs of glasses and sunglasses,” St. Peter said. Lions Club in Indiana donated about 700 eyeglasses. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Madison and Covenant Classical Day Care in Huntsville donated 300 pairs.
St. Peter used a portable handheld device, a Retinoscope, “to measure the prescription in people’s eyes. A retinoscope emits a vertical beam of light that can be rotated 360 degrees.” Based on the reflection, he used various powered lenses to determine farsightedness, nearsightedness and astigmatism.
St. Peter’s primary assistants were Rotarians Dennis Sanders, D.J. Klein and Tim McMicken who helped with patient exams and matching prescriptions for glasses.
The Rotarians saw diverse people. In more populated areas, people had received vision care and owned glasses. In remote regions, individuals never had an eye exam or money to buy glasses.
“Honduras is a very dry and dusty environment (with many) dry eye and allergy problems,” St. Peter said. “Many older people had cataracts and a pterygium, a growth over the front of their eyes — both caused by ultraviolet sunlight.” He also treated infections.
St. Peter educated residents about wearing sunglasses for UV protection. Elderly residents complained that they could no longer read their Bible. “Something as simple as reading glasses put a huge smile on their faces and enabled them to read their Bibles again,” he said.
Realizing most children had good eyesight, St. Peter’s team shifted focus to adults and asked teachers to refer children with vision problems.
Also this year, Madison Rotarians built clean-burning EcoStoves and set up dental clinics.
St. Peter now is collecting special-order eyeglasses for project coordinator Carolina Tercero, who will visit Madison in May. He plans to organize a surgical team and return to Honduras to offer cataract surgery.
