THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170481
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
To read his Bible, the Rev. Felton Whitfield had to hold it an inch from the tip of his nose and peer through lenses as thick as Coke bottles.
His left eye was distorted by an additional quarter-inch-thick bubble of glass - necessary to provide some sight to the eye nearly blinded by a cataract.
Whitfield, pastor at the tiny Portsmouth church of New Jerusalem, had no health insurance and wasn't eligible for Medicaid or Medicare. So the 39-year-old had resigned himself to living with partial blindness.
On Thursday, a Hampton Roads eye surgeon blasted the cataract to bits, sucked it out of Whitfield's eye with a tiny vacuum and didn't charge the Portsmouth man a cent. Neither did Portsmouth General Hospital, where the surgery was performed; the nurse anesthetist; the laboratory that did the blood work; or the drug company that supplied the medicines for the 15-minute surgery.
All donated their time and supplies as part of a national program called Mission Cataract USA. Whitfield is one of 11 Hampton Roads residents who received the free surgery this week.
``It's just our way of giving something back to the community,'' said Dr. H. Dale Sponaugle of Tidewater Eye Surgeons and Associates, the surgical group that contributed its services to the project.
Cataracts are a natural part of the aging process. More than 60 percent of those 60 and older get them, but they can occur at any age . A cataract is formed when the natural lens of the eyes becomes cloudy and hardened, leading to impaired depth perception, color distortion and eventual blindness.
Operation Mission is the brainchild of Frederick Richburg, a California doctor who wanted to do eye surgery as a medical missionary. But Richburg, of Fresno, didn't have the time to travel to other countries, so, in 1991, he started the program in his own back yard.
The program expanded throughout California the following year and across the country in 1993. This year, more than 300 ophthalmologists in 37 states will operate on 1,500 people.
This is the second year Tidewater Eye Surgeons has participated. Only two Virginia groups provide the free surgeries. The other is in Richmond.
``I think this is a blessing from the Lord,'' Portsmouth resident Julia Richardson said as she waited Thursday morning for her surgery.
A white dot was visible in the pupil of Richardson's left eye. The tiny dot made her practically blind in that eye.
The 63-year-old Portsmouth woman said that for the past couple of years her faltering depth perception has forced her to be extra cautious going up and down stairs.
Her granddaughter heard about Operation Mission just two weeks ago. Within days, Richardson had been screened and scheduled for surgery.
The surgery typically costs about $5,000, $1,200 of which is the surgeon's fee.
Last year, Sponaugle and his associates completed 10 surgeries; this year, they added an extra person, ``someone we couldn't eliminate because he was also deserving,'' Sponaugle said.
Whitfield was one of the last to have his surgery. ``People look to the churches to do mission work,'' he said. ``But if everyone took on a project like this, the world would be a better place.'' ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN color photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Dr. H. Dale Sponaugle performs surgery on the Rev. Felton K.
Whitfield Thursday at Portsmouth General Hospital. With help from
three nurses, Sponaugle removed a cataract from Whitfield's left
eye.
AT RIGHT: Julia Richardson, 63, closes her right eye to check how
much she can see through her left, cataract-afflicted eye. The
cataract was removed Thursday morning at Portsmouth General Hospital
- for free. The service was part of Mission Cataract USA.
Photo
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Registered nurse Pamela Zentmyer puts drops into the Rev. Felton
Whitfield's
left eye Thursday in preparation for a surgery to remove a
cataract.
Graphic
MISSION CATARACT USA
The next Mission Cataract Day will be held in May 1997. Contact
the program at (800) 343-7265.
To qualify for the surgery, applicants must be nearly or
completely blind from cataracts and have no health insurance, nor be
eligible for Medicaid or Medicare.
Local contributors to this year's Mission Cataract USA are:
Portsmouth Family Medicine, Poplar Hill Diagnostic Center, Alcon
Inc., Better Vision Eyeglass Center, Rappahanock Anesthesia and
Portsmouth General Hospital.
KEYWORDS: EYE SURGERY CATARACTS by CNB