And while the Special Constables are lending a helping hand to their community, so is the Belize Council For The Visually Impaired.
If you do not suffer with cataracts you might not know that thousands of Belizeans have serious vision problems or have lost their sight with a condition that is very preventable. That’s why the BCVI offers free cataract surgery with the help of visiting volunteer surgeons.
We visited today to find out that it’s an easy and free solution to a problem that needlessly bedevils many Belizeans.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Two months ago Henry Alvarez was blind, he couldn’t see because of cataracts. Now he can see through one eye and soon that will be two thanks to surgery to surgery done by volunteers at the BCVI
Henry Alvarez
“My eyesight right now I can see clearly with this left eye. I get my surgery 24th. of September, so right now, I am feeling all right."
Jules Vasquez
"So how does the right eye stand?"
Henry Alvarez
“The right eye? I am doing surgery right now for the right eye.”
Jules Vasquez
“Before you got the first surgery, you were blind, then?
Henry Alvarez
“Yeah, I was totally blind, yeah totally blind, can’t see anything at all.”
But now he can and it’s thanks to this fairly straightforward procedure being performed for free by volunteers.
Doctor Edward Hurst is one of them from Dallas, Texas. The surgery would cost one thousand US dollars in his country, but he does it for free here
Doctor Edward Hurst
“We’re doing it for free; we’re happy to do that. We like coming down, it’s a beautiful country, we like being here and people appreciate what we’re doing, so….”
“The big difference here is that the cataracts are much further along and much thicker and much harder to get out. In the states, they’re a little easier to take out, here they’re harder.”
Carla Ayres-Musa, P.R. BCVI
“A lotta the people that we’re bringing in would not otherwise be able to have transportation to come to our clinic would not be able to see the doctors who are coming here and would not be able to afford it. It is free to our patients but it is not free of cost, BCVI and NHI subsidize this and we’re doing this because these are people who do not need to blind it can be fixed there’s a way to fix it, they just don’t have money to do it.”
Henry Alvarez
“I enjoy my life much better than before. I much enjoy it.”
If you want to apply for the surgery, you have to call the BCVI for a screening. The number is 227-7776.
