Jamaica: Flying Eye Hospital Project Highlights

Over the course of the project our amazing Volunteer Faculty performed 87 sight-saving operations and provided training for 44 local eye care professionals working in Jamaica and the Caribbean, where it’s estimated over 1.1 million people suffer from vision loss.

We last landed in the country in 2006 and we’re just as proud of the impact we’ve made in improving the quality of eye health on the island this time around. Revisit our 2006 program.

Gallery: Flying Eye Hospital Jamaica 2019 staff and crew

From the moment our MD-10 aircraft landed at Norman Manley International Airport, our Flying Eye Hospital team hit the ground running, getting local partners up to speed with complex surgical skills in a controlled environment through our state-of-the-art Mobile Simulation Center.

23 ophthalmologists, 21 nurses and 8 anesthesiologists took part in the simulation training, which breaks down a complex surgery into smaller parts allowing local teams to focus on a certain skill - something you can’t do with a human eye.

Thank you Collins Aerospace for kindly donating this amazing Mobile Simulation Center to help improve the skills of eye teams around the world.

Gallery: Simulation Training in Action

This particular project was made up of 22 Orbis Volunteer Faculty who shared their top class skills and knowledge with local teams. Hailing from the U.S, Canada, UK, India and Mexico, it was truly a global effort to fight blindness.

From ophthalmologists and nurses to technicians and ophthalmic assistants, we were delighted to welcome our local partners on board for hands-on training sessions to boost skills and build a lasting legacy of eye care for generations to come.

And thanks to cutting-edge audio/visual technology on board the aircraft, we could train people far beyond the Caribbean. 125 health professionals tuned in to lectures and live surgeries via our online telehealth platform Cybersight, extending our impact further than the plane could ever travel.

Gallery: Hands-On Training

Throughout the program, 110 patients, young and old, were examined with 72 receiving sight-saving treatment (both surgical and laser). Thanks to the incredible power of technology - Cybersight enabled patients to have their clinical cases presented to our Volunteer Faculty surgeons well before we arrived in Jamaica.

In the Caribbean, half of people with vision loss suffer from cataracts. One of the patients we treated was 73-year-old cataract patient Denzil who left the Flying Eye Hospital beaming with joy and reaching for the sky following his operation to correct his sight.

Gallery: Meeting patients in Jamaica

Where do we even begin! We’d like to say thank you to everyone who helped to make our project in Jamaica a success – our generous supporters, our amazing partners and our brilliant and talented volunteers.

Another big thank you to the 22 Volunteer Faculty who generously donated their time and expertise to help train and teach colleagues in Jamaica and around the world. We really couldn’t do what we do without you! Here are some of them pictured below...

Gallery: Jamaica 2019 Volunteer Faculty

And last but not least, a huge thank you must go to our partner FedEx, who have been supporting our mission and vision for an incredible 37 years!