Honduran Eye and Life Program Mission a Success
Members of the EPRS practice have been volunteering in Central America since 1986. Honduras Eye and Life Program (HELP) was founded by Drs Thomas Bersani and Robert Weisenthal to support this work. HELP’s base of operations is located in La Ceiba (population 100,000) from which we offer medical services to the city and its outlying areas. Our dedicated volunteers have been traveling to Honduras since 1987. Over time, the team has grown to include numerous dedicated eye surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, ocularists, optometrists and general helpers with assorted skills — all of whom travel to LaCeiba at their own cost to provide surgical and clinical services to the indigent population of Honduras. Each trip involves months of advance preparation, during which time our volunteers secure the supplies and medical equipment necessary to provide care; work with the Red Cross to coordinate lodging, transportation, and food for the team; and identify families throughout the local Honduran community who will open their homes and hearts to our volunteers, providing sleeping accommodations and food. Sight preserving and restoring procedures such as cataract surgery, corneal transplants, pterigium removal, eye muscle surgery for strabismus, removal of tumors, eyelid reconstructions, tear duct repairs, fitting of artificial eyes, and even provision of used glasses from the International Lions Club recycling program are provided.
Veteran and active-duty military care
The doctors at Eye Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of CNY are committed to serving the medical needs of our Veterans and our active duty Military, through our service at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Syracuse, and our care of soldiers at Fort Drum in Watertown.
Eye Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of CNY Has Upstate Medical University Affiliation
All of our surgeons, in addition to membership in Eye Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of CNY, are faculty members of the department of Ophthalmology at Upstate Medical University, where they teach medical students and residents, perform surgery, and conduct clinical research.