As an ophthalmologist, Eden Thompson’s mom gets a lot of professional journals and newsletters in the mail. One caught Eden’s eye.
“I saw something from SEE International that talked about the sustainable mission work they are doing in underserved areas of the world,” says Eden. “I looked into whether they had any opportunities for high-schoolers, and was super fortunate that Dr. Thomas Tontie Baah was receptive to having me volunteer at his clinic.”
Organizations across the globe work to connect SEE International volunteers with eye care specialists working to support underserved populations. SEE teams volunteer their time and expertise and transport donated supplies to assist host ophthalmologists, Dr. Baah among them. Eden’s service host and mentor, Dr. Baah, is the owner and medical director of the Save the Nation Sight Clinic, a volunteer eye-health organization dedicated to preserving vision and eye health, treating eye diseases, and preventing blindness in Accra, Ghana. He and his team see more than a million patients each year.
“I worked in the clinic for around eight hours each day,” says Eden. “I was fortunate to be able to assist with multiple aspects of eye surgeries, specifically cataract surgeries and pterygium excisions.”
Eden’s duties were many and varied, ranging from dilating patients’ eyes and preparing syringes for pre-op anesthesia to managing administrative tasks, providing the medical staff with surgical tools during procedures, and applying post-op antibacterial eye drops, ointments, and protective coverings.
“As Ghana is under-resourced, they need to create sometimes unorthodox solutions to make medical care more accessible to its citizens” Eden explains. “It was interesting for me to observe how these creative solutions in Ghana led to a more sustainable practice of medicine. In the United States, sterility is a very serious measure, so much so that many surgical tools and medicines are single-use, despite the fact that they are still in excellent condition. This leads to excessive medical waste. In Ghana, this was not the case: surgical tools and drapes were sanitized and reused, and eye drops and ointments were used on multiple patients (still in a sterile fashion) until the medications were fully consumed. While sterility is of course very important in surgery, current research has shown that these practices of reusing supplies in less economically developed countries actually has little to no impact on infection rates. This experience helped me see how I could combine my interests as an EcoMon and as a member in the Taft Public Health Club in future research and career endeavors, in medicine or healthcare policy.”
Eden’s travel was made possible in part by a Meg Page ’74 Fellowship grant. Meg Page ’74 Fellowships honor her commitment to compassionate health care. The fellowships are awarded annually to students who wish to explore an experience or course of study devoted to the provision of better health care in areas such as public health, family planning, medical research, mental health, and non-Western practices of healing.
SEE International is a non-profit humanitarian organization that seeks to provide eyecare services to anyone in need of them, regardless of their background or ability to pay.