Eyecare Sans Frontières
How one organization and a flagship aircraft are changing the lives of millions across the globe
At a Glance
- Back in 1973, Orbis was founded by a visionary Texan ophthalmologist who wanted to combine eyecare and aviation
- By 1982, the Flying Eye Hospital was born, and was transporting volunteers worldwide to provide eyecare and outreach programs to those who needed it most
- Now, the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is in its third-generation, and is expanding its global reach as well as its eyecare and training capabilities
- Join us on a visual tour of this state-of-art aircraft, and hear from some of the volunteers involved.
Back in March 2017, we hit the road before dawn to make a 200-mile journey to Stansted Airport. But we weren’t jetting off on some far-flung expedition, we were there to see Orbis’ new Flying Eye Hospital – an MD-10 aircraft that functions as a state-of-the-art ophthalmic surgery and treatment center, as well as a training facility.
Many of you will be familiar with the primary mission of Orbis: to prevent and treat avoidable blindness and visual impairment across the world. By flying out to locations across Africa, Asia and Latin America to screen for and treat ophthalmic diseases, they are able to fulfill part of this mission. But the Flying Eye Hospital isn’t the full story; the many people who work and volunteer for the organization are the real heroes – and their work goes far beyond the airplane. From the air to the ground, this worldwide outreach program trains health workers, strengthens hospitals, educates local communities, and advocates in addition to treating patients. In this two-part installment, join us on a tour of this flagship airliner, and meet some of the dedicated team members who devote their lives to this worthy cause.
A Flying Visit
The airplane
Back in 1982, the first Flying Eye Hospital took off. Now, the iconic aircraft is in its third generation. The newly crafted McDonnell Douglas MD-10, a donation from FedEx, has been converted using a modular design to include an operating theater, an observation room, a 46 seat classroom, and a sterilizing room, as well as a pre- and post-operative care room. The MD-10 has an increased flight range compared with the old DC-10 Flying Eye Hospital (from 4,000 to 6,000 nautical miles), and it only requires a two-person flight crew (pilot and co-pilot) rather than the DC-10’s three (pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer).
The MD-10 ready for painting.
Installing the Modules.
Heading inside…
With your blue overshoes applied, going through the front door brings you into the classroom – the cockpit, as usual, is to the left. When flying, it hosts the crew, but on location it turns into a lecture theater and cinema. “When we do a training program, we usually work with the local eye hospital and invite their doctors, nurses and anesthetists to come on board,” says Celia Yeung, Orbis’ Communications Manager. “We have different kinds of training, including lectures and symposia, and they can watch live surgery from the operating room.” The aircraft also has the capability to live-stream footage so that people all over the world can watch surgery in real time. “We also record all the surgeries and give them to the local hospitals for training material,” Yeung says.
Into the main arena…
At the rear of the classroom, a door leads to the hospital unit, which comprises an audio-visual/IT room, a patient examination and treatment room, the operating theater, as well as sterilization, pre-operative preparation, and post-operative recovery rooms. The patient examination and treatment room is full of equipment: slit lamp, OCT, optical biometer, and a corneal topographer to name but a few. One key piece of equipment is the VRmagic EyeSi virtual reality surgery simulator, used to train local doctors.
The operating theater is located in the heart (and the most stable part) of the aircraft – in the center of the fuselage, right between the wings. Ian Fleming, volunteer anesthetist, says, “One of the biggest jobs was getting the floor ‘rock solid’ – it needs to be as stable as possible.” Jokingly reassuring the visitors that they do not operate whilst flying, Fleming notes that if you saw the OR in flight, you wouldn’t recognize it – everything is strapped down and bolted away. “It takes the crew half a day to set it up when we land,” he says, referring to the vast array of surgical equipment in the theater, with the bed and large top of the range 3D microscope forming the centerpiece of the room. Now that the operating theater has gone 3D, visitors in the classroom can watch whole surgeries in 3D. Fleming says, “We have five cameras in here, with one through the microscope, so that everything can be filmed and relayed to the classroom.” Microphones also allow the surgeon to provide a running commentary as well as field questions from the classroom. Coming out of the operating theater, a small corridor bypasses the sterilization room and leads to the pre-operative and post-operative recovery room, complete with iconic Orbis teddy bears for younger visitors to play with. The separation of the sterilization room is a major improvement in the new MD-10 hospital – patients and staff had to walk through sterilization to get to recovery in the old DC-10.
A Timeline of Orbis and the Flying Eye Hospital
1973 Project Orbis is born. David Paton, an ophthalmologist from Houston, Texas, has a bold vision: “to use aviation to deliver medical education to the eyes of the world.”
1982 The DC-8 Flying Eye Hospital takes off from Houston, Texas, bound for Panama on its first ever program.
1984 Orbis is commended by the UN for bringing together Turkish and Greek doctors to deliver training during a trip to the divided island of Cyprus.
1987 The Flying Eye Hospital makes a historic visit to the Soviet Union, conducting programs in Moscow and Leningrad at the height of the Cold War.
1991 The plane is invited to Cuba to conduct a three-week program. Fidel Castro himself visits the plane.
1993 Mother Teresa visits the plane during a trip to Kolkata, India.
1994 Orbis’ DC-8 is formally retired and donated to Datangshan museum near Beijing, China, and the Orbis DC-10 takes to the skies.
1994–2011 The DC-10 conducts 120 programs in countries including Syria, Kenya and Laos.
2011 FedEx donates an MD-10 aircraft.
2011 Actor Daniel Craig visits the Flying Eye Hospital in Mongolia to film a short documentary on Orbis’ work.
2016 After completing a further 19 programs, the DC-10 is retired and donated to Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The MD-10, the third-generation Flying Eye Hospital, takes to the skies, landing in Shenyang, China for its first program.
Back on solid ground…
Shortly after its pit stop at Stansted Airport, the Flying Eye Hospital left for Dubai, then Qatar – with many more destinations planned including Cameroon and Bangladesh for six weeks of additional training programs. With over 10 volunteers already enlisted, these programs will focus on training their peers within the host countries across a wide range of sub-specialties, including pediatric oculoplastic, glaucoma and cataract surgery.
The first and second generation Flying Eye Hospitals – the DC-8 and DC-10, respectively – were each in service for 12 years. There are doubtless many years of service ahead for the MD-10 and its dedicated volunteers – and that means many years of preventing and treating avoidable blindness and visual impairment across the world.
In next month’s issue, we’ll meet some of the dedicated volunteers from the organization and hear their stories.
All images credit: Orbis International
I have an extensive academic background in the life sciences, having studied forensic biology and human medical genetics in my time at Strathclyde and Glasgow Universities. My research, data presentation and bioinformatics skills plus my ‘wet lab’ experience have been a superb grounding for my role as a deputy editor at Texere Publishing. The job allows me to utilize my hard-learned academic skills and experience in my current position within an exciting and contemporary publishing company.
