For the Altman family of Wyomissing, helping others is a family trait. Dr. Adam Altman, President of Eye Consultants of Pennsylvania, has been a cataract surgeon and LASIK specialist in the area for more than 25 years. When Adam’s son Alex showed interest in the field, he saw an opportunity to share their combined experience with the less fortunate.
“When Alex was growing up and deciding what he wanted to do, he was always fascinated with the idea of giving back to people,” Adam explains. “In all the fields of medicine there are a few that are ideally suited to medical mission work, and Ophthalmology is one of them because you can basically do one surgery and a person can see forever. You can really make a lasting impact in a short amount of time.”
Giving the Gift of Sight
Adam was introduced to the Lighthouse for Christ, an eye clinic and ministry in Mombasa, Kenya, by his former partner, Dr. Larry Kenney. With Alex in his third year at Drexel Medical School – now in his first year of residency at Rutgers – Adam thought a medical mission trip would be the perfect opportunity for them to both give back and to treat unusual pathology.
In May of 2019 they traveled to Africa with an enormous amount of donated supplies and spent 10 days working alongside local doctors to do their part to help the more than 30,000 people who visit the clinic each year. The overall incidence of cataracts and glaucoma is much higher in the area as a result of poor overall health, a lack of consistent care and chronic sun exposure. By the time many Kenyans reach late middle age they develop cataracts so advanced that they need assistance to perform many regular tasks.
“Over there going blind is just considered a part of life,” Alex says. “In America, people will get cataract surgery as soon as they start being bothered by glare around lights at night. In Kenya, you get old; you can’t see anymore, and then you have a young kid lead you around.”
But it wasn’t just routine eye surgeries that kept the Altmans busy during their time in Mombasa. “There were so many things that we treated there that you would never see here,” says Adam. He recalled one woman who perforated her eye with a thorn in the African backcountry more than a month before coming to see them. “There’s nowhere in the U.S. that you wouldn’t see someone within a day of something like that.”
The Gift that Gives Back
The Altmans’ experience in Kenya was not only life-changing for the locals. Seeing how others live had an immense impact on both father and son. “I’ve done a moderate amount of traveling throughout my life, and nowhere was as different from where I’m from than Kenya,” Alex says. “One of the things that impacted me the most was how nice and warm the people were. People were just so grateful for the care.”
Adam remembers, “When we arrived, one of the nurses told us they were running out of lens implants for cataract surgery and were worried that they wouldn’t be able to help people. She said they were praying for supplies and we showed up. It was really touching. We sort of take for granted in the United States that if you have a medical problem you can get help, but it’s not the case there.”
The Altmans hoped to return to Mombasa again this past spring but were forced to cancel their plans as a result of the pandemic, so they are making plans for 2021. For more info on Lighthouse for Christ and the incredible work they are doing for the people in Africa, visit lighthouseforchrist.org.
