Bioptigen and OCTNews are providing a travel stipend of $1500 to a  qualified volunteer willing to provide training and temporary eye care services to Haiti. 

Interested volunteers are encouraged to click HERE  to apply for the stipend or learn more about this effort.

On January 12, 2010 the Caribbean nation of Haiti suffered a massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake, destroying the capital city of Port au Prince, impacting 3 million people and killing 230,000[i].  The loss of life and livelihood is unimaginable to most of us.  The generosity of the world community is reflected in the tremendous humanitarian assistance provided to Haiti from around the globe.

Critical care emergency services and wound treatment are the most important needs in the early recovery efforts in Haiti. After the early shock and trauma are addressed with life preserving services, additional support for life enhancing services are required.  Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in partnership with the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Pan-American Ophthalmological Foundation has organized a task force to deliver general medical aid, optometric care, ophthalmic services, and ocular surgery where necessary.

Bioptigen is supporting this effort to extend relief services to the field of general eye care and ocular trauma with the donation of an ophthalmic Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SDOCT) imaging system.  This SDOCT system will be underwritten by donations from Bioptigen investors and employees to the Pan-American Ophthalmological Foundation.  The mobile Bioptigen SDOCT system, with capabilities for handheld imaging of all structures of the eye, is suited to the visualization of ocular trauma, and clinical examination of children and adults.

According to Dr. Richard K. Lee, MD, PhD, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and member of the American AAO Task Force on Haiti Recovery, "the challenges of providing eye care in Haiti have been great well before the earthquake. The earthquake has exacerbated these challenges and has highlighted the incredible need this developing country faces in providing eye care to the vast majority of its people. Now is the time to focus on the irreversible disease processes that will affect this needy population for their remaining lifetimes, such as morbidity from blindness." 

Dr. Lee notes that the Bioptigen donation of a portable SD-OCT system to Haiti "will be invaluable and fill a significant unmet need. The capabilities of a portable unit will allow for the Bioptigen SD-OCT to be a work horse machine capable of serving many people at several different facilities to maximize its utilization under rugged conditions."  Additionally, the Bioptigen SDOCT will also allow for the continuing medical education of the Haitian ophthalmologists. “Your kind contribution,” states Dr. Lee, "will help decrease that gap in care standards for an underserved population with large unmet needs in this time of national crisis."

To support this specific effort to provide dedicated eye care to Haiti, Bioptigen and OCT NEWS are providing a travel stipend of $1500 to a volunteer willing to provide training and temporary eye care services to Haiti.   The goal of the volunteer is to help train medical staff in Haiti to use the Bioptigen system most effectively so that it may provide long term benefits to the people of Haiti.  The volunteer may be an M.D., O.D., Ophthalmic Photographer, or medical student with a strong interest in providing eye care services as part of the Haiti recovery effort. The stipend will be used to offset direct costs to the volunteer for a two week stay in Haiti. The volunteer is expected to operate through the AAO Haiti Relief Task Force, but will be otherwise unrestricted by terms of the stipend.

If you are interested in donating additional funds to support the volunteer effort and/or are interested in applying for the volunteer stipend or learning more about this effort click HERE. 

The relief effort in Haiti is likely to last for months or years.  If you would like to provide a direct donation to the ophthalmic health sector for Haiti, we encourage donations directly to the American Academy of Ophthalmology Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. 

Bioptigen is proud to be able to directly serve the Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort through donation of an ophthalmic SDOCT imaging system.  We encourage you to participate as volunteer or through your financial contribution.

With warmest regards,
Eric L. Buckland, PhD
President & CEO
Bioptigen

Eric A. Swanson
Editor
OCT News

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[i] USAID Fact Sheet #50, Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, April 16, 2010