AGORA XXI: BLOG OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAINT PAUL

Shoulder to Shoulder to Improve the Sight of Many

Each year during the month of January, a group of volunteers from Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, come to the Dominican Republic to conduct an ophthalmologic clinic in the parish La Sagrada Familia in Sabana Yegua. The group is composed of surgeons, ophthalmologists, nurses, and others of good will. These people, already busy with their own lives, make a significant and inconvenient commitment to journey far from home to provide advanced medical services, not readily available or affordable, to the local people of the parish. 

When the medical specialists and their aides arrive, they are joined by an enthusiastic group of Dominican volunteers who generously and attentively support them with translations and other logistical activities during the hectic week of nearly non-stop work. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the two groups meld into a dedicated and efficient team. In the clinic, the sight of many people, with a variety of different ailments and conditions, is examined, evaluated and treated. Many surgeries, already planned during the months before the clinic, are performed.