A group of Tucson physicians will travel south of the border to "illuminate" the lives of diabetics living in poverty.
Doctors with the nonprofit Global Vision Foundation are headed to Guadalajara, in the center of the Mexican Pacific coast state of Jalisco, to restore vision to diabetics by performing free laser treatments and cataract surgeries.
"There's an epidemic that is pretty bad. People are going blind, and we have to attend to them," said Tucson-based Dr. Diego Calonje, a retina specialist and the foundation's co-founder.
The goal is to examine at least 600 patients a day during the two-day clinic Friday and Saturday.
Diabetics will be seen by six U.S. doctors - including three from Tucson - who work with the foundation and another seven doctors from Mexico.
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"The inspiration for these clinics is to help the most vulnerable people receive health care, get their disease diagnosed and be treated," said Dr. César Larios, assistant director with the Cruz Roja Mexicana (Mexican Red Cross) in Guadalajara.
With the incidence of diabetes on the rise, more people are suffering from vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes and a leading cause of blindness, doctors say.
In Mexico, besides a lack of a preventive medicine, many people are poor and have no access to health care, Larios said.
In Guadalajara, a visit to an ophthalmologist costs between $38 and $53.
So far, more than $200,000 worth of equipment has been donated to the Cruz Roja, and thanks to those donations, the institution was able to open the Dr. Julio H. Calonje Ophthalmology Clinic, named after Diego Calonje's father.
For many in Guadalajara and surroundings rural communities, this is the only opportunity they have to restore their vision, doctors said.
Also leaving from Tucson will be Dr. Michael Diesenhouse, a co-founder of the Global Vision Foundation, and general ophthalmologist Dr. Peter Kaufer. Other physicians taking part are retina specialist Dr. Steven Marks from Geisinger Medical Center in Pennsylvania, Geisinger resident in ophthalmology Dr. Ben Hale and glaucoma specialist Dr. Tim McLaughlin of Pensacola, Fla.
"Each of us pays for our own expenses," Calonje said.
The trips to Mexico started in 2004 with visits to the border cities of Nogales and Agua Prieta, Calonje said.
In 2006, doctors went to Guadalajara. To date, eight clinics have been organized in the city, said Larios, who added that the doctors expect to see up to 1,000 patients during this weekend's clinic.
Calonje and other physicians have gone on more than 20 missions to Mexico. They have examined about 3,000 patients and performed 1,800 laser treatments.
Calonje said the foundation is working on a Spanish-language Web site. It also wants to reach other Latin American countries, and next February Calonje will travel to Colombia.
As for the doctors in Guadalajara, the Cruz Roja has received invitations to take the clinic to other Mexican states, including Oaxaca, Guanajuato and Sinaloa, Larios said.
"Dr. Calonje and the foundation have passed their enthusiasm to serve," Larios said, "to help the vulnerable."
