Local residents get free cataract surgery
SALEM – A dozen people who couldn’t see well when they went into a local eye care center this morning walked out with a new outlook on life – literally.
For the fourth year, staff from the Roanoke Valley Center for Sight and area ophthalmologists performed free cataract surgery for people who couldn’t afford it and did not have insurance.
“I’m ecstatic,” said patient Janice Mack as she was about to be wheeled in to get the cloudy lens in her left eye replaced. She said her vision had been getting cloudier for the past year and had recently gotten worse.
The 63-year-old described herself as one of the people who “fell through the cracks” for insurance. She didn’t earn enough to buy private insurance and earned a few dollars too much to continue to qualify for state-provided medical care.
By later this afternoon Mack could expect to see better out of her left eye, and by her follow-up checkup next week, clearer than she had seen in years, ophthalmologist Dr. David Kinsler of Vistar Eye Care assured her. He and Dr. Eugene Eng of Eye Care and Surgery donated their surgical skills that day, as did nurses and other medical staff. Dr. John Brisley of Vistar provided post-operative care.
Patients who were selected for this year’s surgery came from the Roanoke Valley and as far away as Christiansburg.
Surgery started at 7:30 this morning and was expected to run until about 3 p.m. this afternoon.
