Wolfe Eye Clinic Surgeon Travels to Romania on Medical Mission
October 22, 2007
A childhood dream continues to become reality for Dr. Donny W. Suh, a Pediatric Ophthalmologist with Wolfe Eye Clinic, who recently returned from Botosani, Romania, where he took part in a 10-day medical mission provided by the Medical Mission Foundation (MMF). MMF, an organization based out of Kansas City, Kansas, was originally formed by few volunteers, but has expanded to include medical professionals from a wide array of specialties including ophthalmology, ENT, plastic and reconstructive surgery, podiatry, anesthesiology, family medicine and more.
Through MMF and other mission programs, he’s traveled to places like India, Peru, China and the Philippines. “Traveling and helping people is something I’ve always wanted to do,” says Suh. “That was part of why I chose the medical field. These trips allow me to also interact with other volunteer doctors, nurses and technicians from all over the world with the same common goal of helping people.”
Botosani, a city in northeastern Romania, has a population of approximately 400,000 with many more living in rural surrounding areas. As in most developing countries, there is a wide gap in wealth, with a large number of people living in poverty. There is no pediatric eye surgery performed in Botosani, and patients are referred to Iasi or Bucharest, which are large cities in central Romania. Not only would the trek take many days by foot or bus, but the impoverished citizens are often unable to pay the fee for services.
“During my time in Botosani, we were able to examine over 200 patients and perform 30 surgeries,” says Suh.
Providing greater access to services and breaking down financial barriers allowed for amazing results. One patient that really stuck in my mind was a woman in her 20’s who presented with severely crossed eyes. She also had no hair and no sense of hope and was full of despair. To make things worse, she was legally blind from a congenital birth defect. As her story unfolded, she told us that an abusive spouse had ripped her hair out, and that her children had been taken away by the state during her divorce because of her inability to provide for them financially. She wanted to get her eyes straightened so that she could talk to people eye to eye, as she felt this, along with her low-sight issues were preventing her from getting a job and ultimately getting her children back. She was alone and scared with no income. MMF staff, nurses and volunteers came together to help this woman. She received surgical treatment for her crossed eye condition and we even found a wig amongst our supplies. The next day, she came in tearful, yet with an incredible smile on her face. Her eyes were straighter and her peripheral vision improved. She felt that she had friends who loved her. I truly believe that this was something she had never experienced before. She was a completely different person, ready to take on the world and get her children back. From this experience, I learned that if we work together towards a common goal, there aren’t too many things that we can’t conquer. I have never felt more proud to be an American at that moment, working side by side with other volunteers with tremendous talents and heart.”