PHACO EYE MACHINE
On Thursday October 22nd, 2009 numerous members of Lions Clubs
from District 19H and other community groups were invited to the
Chilliwack Hospital Eye Centre by the Fraser Valley Health Care
Foundation for an Eye Centre Donor Recognition Event. The event
included the unveiling of a donors plaque, comments from the head of the
Chilliwack Hospital, the Fraser Health Foundation, some of the 5
area eye surgeons who use the facility and a tour of the operating
rooms.
In 2002 The local Lions Clubs were approached by Dr. Heinrich, a local eye surgeon who asked for our assistance. He had on loan from the manufacturer, a Phaco Eye Machine which was used for cataract surgery and he was going to have to send it back as there was no funding for it. Lion PCC Al Hunt, a member of our club, applied for a matching LCIF Grant of $45,000 and the local Lions Clubs started fund raising. With the help of Fraser Valley Lions and community groups, the Phaco eye machine was purchased and Chilliwack Hospital started to become a centre for cataract surgery in September of 2002. The local Hospital Auxiliary in Mission and Chilliwack donated funds for equipping the operating room and other local donors stepped up also. See the attached photo of the recognition plaque.
In his welcoming speech the C.E.O. of the Chilliwack Hospital stated the the Phaco eye machine which the Lions had purchased was now worn out from extensive use, but because we had stepped forward as Knights of the Blind, Chilliwack had now become a major eye centre for the Fraser Valley. Of the 15,000 cataract surgeries done last year in the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia, 5,000 had been done in Chilliwack. Because of our purchase of the eye machine Fraser Heath had now replaced it with two state of the art cataract machines valued at $225,000. They are in side by side operating rooms and as one patient is operated on, the next is being prepped next door and the surgeon goes back and forth between operating rooms. It has allowed the surgeons to do 25 cataract surgeries a day, four days a week and they are seeking funding to operate 5 days a week.
