![]() ![]() That same year the Flying Eye Hospital made international news, inspiring the world with sight-saving work that took place on board the DC-8. The airplane’s design allowed for cargo, and in 1982, philanthropist and actress, Dina Merrill christened the FEH before its first mission from Houston to Panama. In 1980 United Airlines donated its oldest DC-8 aircraft to Orbis, which became the very first Flying Eye Hospital (FEH). Given the high costs of tuition and international travel and accommodations that prevented most doctors and nurses in low-income countries from coming to the USA for training, the idea for a mobile teaching hospital was launched in 1973 to deliver training to them at their doorstep and it was appropriately named ‘Project Orbis ‘ Orbis meaning ‘of the eye’ in Latin and ‘around the world’ in Greek. Concerned that a staggering 90% of avoidable blindness occurred in these countries, Dr. David Paton, a faculty member of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, recognized the lack of eye care and ophthalmic teaching in developing nations where blindness was widespread. In the late 1960s, the concept of Orbis began when renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Using cutting edge technology and the innovative use of avionics, hospital engineering and clinical expertise, Orbis is a leading international non-profit that unites people in the organization’s mission to fight avoidable blindness in over 90 countries throughout the globe. Over the past four decades Orbis has provided vital eye care to thousands of people worldwide. Its first flight took place on March 1, 1982. Local doctors maintain oversight of patients before, during and after surgery.The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is a fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on board an airplane. Priority is given to children, individuals who are bilaterally blind, cannot afford to have the surgery otherwise, and represent good teaching cases. Selected patients are then screened by ORBIS volunteer faculty members at the program site. Prior to the start of a Flying Eye Hospital visit, local doctors pre-select patients whose conditions are relevant to that program’s specialties. Large numbers of trainees observe the surgeries and ask questions of the operating surgeons via a two-way audio-visual system. If needed, surgeries can also be broadcast to an additional classroom outside the aircraft, for instance, at a nearby hospital. In the 48-seat classroom at the front of the plane, doctors gather for lectures, discussions and live broadcasts of surgical procedures being performed nearby in the Flying Eye Hospital operating room. The mobile teaching hospital is a unique tool in the fight against preventable blindness in developing countries. Onboard the refurbished DC-10 jet aircraft, local doctors, nurses and technicians work alongside ORBIS’s international medical team to exchange knowledge and improve skills. The ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital is literally a hospital with wings that brings together dedicated eye care professionals and aviators to give the gift of sight to developing countries around the world.
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