Dr. Howard Gross performs Volunteer Eye Surgery in Maseru, Africa
Dr. Howard J. Gross of Horizon Eye Care traveled to Maseru in Lesotho Africa, December 16 through December 20, 2012, with Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International to perform cataract surgery.
MARGATE, NJ, January 20, 2013
Dr. Howard J. Gross of Horizon Eye Care traveled to Maseru in Lesotho Africa, December 16 through December 20, 2012, with Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International to perform cataract surgery. Dr. Gross donated his time and travel expenses to participate in this expedition.Dr. Gross, a cataract surgeon from southern New Jersey, serves as the Medical Director of Horizon Eye Care in Margate, New Jersey.
Dr. Gross was moved by the extreme need of the people of Maseru. Many patients were totally blind from cataracts, a condition that is easily curable in the United States. "This was a humbling experience for me and exhilarating for the patients who had their vision restored by the surgery," said Dr. Gross. "This procedure enables the patients to resume productive roles in their communities and tribes and also allows family care takers of the visually disabled individuals to return to school or to productive jobs. I was grateful to be able to take part in such a wonderful international humanitarian effort."
The expedition was hosted by Dr. Eugene Penniecook, a native ophthalmologist in Maseru, Lesotho, through the Seventh Day Adventist Mission at Maluti Clinic, a non-profit organization committed to improving health of the people of Lesotho, a farming community in an undeveloped area in south eastern Africa.
According to the World Health Organization, cataracts are the cause of roughly half of the world's 37 million cases of blindness. SEE International and their network of volunteer surgeons have preformed more than 400,000 surgeries since its inception. Founded in 1976, SEE is a non-profit organization that deploys surgical teams to developing nations to perform sight-restoring procedures.
Horizon Eye Care has been serving the vision needs of the people of Atlantic, Cape May, and Southern Ocean Counties for more than 20 years. Dr. Gross is the medical director of the organization which provides comprehensive eye care including state of the art cataract surgery in the area's first ambulatory surgical center.
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