力行植林慈善基金會

Reflections on Cataract Trip in March 2015 （Yiu Mei Kwan Regina）

The cataract service trip gave me very heart-warming experience. Numerous disadvantaged elderly were in desperate wish for brightness and love. Cataract due to degeneration or even inheritance deprived them from normal living. With limited resources, doctors, nurses and fellow volunteers collaborated to screen and offer surgery for suitable patients. I assisted doctors and nurses in various positions to keep the procedures smooth, for example, visual acuity checking, eye washing, ultrasound checking and slit light exams. Some procedures could be very irritating to the eyes so I would try my best to comfort and relax the patients. I have to be empathetic towards every patient I encounter because it is never pleasing to suffer from illness. Most elderly there got advanced stage of cataract and could hardly see like the blind. It was very touching when they held on my hands tightly and wholly relied on me to lead them the way around the hospitals. After all the procedures, I talked to them and performed simple physical examinations on them. It was unforgettable that a male elderly suddenly called me and shared his secrets about his health conditions with me at a corner. I really didn’t expect he had put so much trust on me.

All the surgeries were done on this coach instead of hospital.

Ultrasound scanning of the defective eye.

Imagine how joyful when you can regain your eye sight!

Yiu Mei Kwan Regina ( CUHK Med.4)

11 – 5 - 2015