Sharing vision for the future
Rotary Club of Jacksonville hosts visiting ophthalmologists in Williams Visionary Scholars Project
Doctors Jean Claude Niyonzima of Burundi and Duke Mataka of Tonga spoke of their countries, cultures and experiences in ophthalmology at the Sept. 26 meeting of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville.
Niyonzima and Mataka spent just over a week in Jacksonville, visiting and observing the latest techniques in ophthalmology with local practices and clinics before attending AAO 2022, the annual American Academy of Ophthalmology conference, this year held in Chicago.
All this is possible through the Rotary Club of Jacksonville and the Williams Visionary Scholars Project. As Rotary member Dr. William Knauer III explained at the meeting, this project is part of the Rotary Club Host Project, a national and international collaboration between Rotary International and the AAO to bring visiting scholars from developing countries to learn and observe cases and methods with local ophthalmologists.
“This is a good opportunity for me,” said Niyonzima before the meeting began. “One because, for me particularly, it has been the first time coming to the US and the second thing is, during my stay, I’ve been able to visit several clinics and kind of benchmarking what is happening in the developed world and what can we learn from them, what can we do back home and I’m really happy.”
In Burundi, located in East Central Africa, Niyonzima is one of two ophthalmologists at the rural hospital where he works, which completes 2,500 surgeries a year.
Traveling nearly 40 hours to reach Jacksonville from the South Pacific, Mataka said this experience has been like the “Disney World of ophthalmology.”
“I want to go and make some changes in the way I practice on the other side of the world, especially getting everyone involved,” he added. “I’ve seen how efficient a patient is looked after here because everyone is acting as a team and it makes things easier.”
A nation of 171 islands — with only 45 inhabited — Mataka said his country didn’t have an ophthalmologist for more than a decade. Patients either had to wait for visiting doctors or were sent abroad for treatment.
“We do ophthalmology a little bit different there,” he said. “Ophthalmology practice depends on what instrument and medication is available, but you get to see it here done properly and with a lot of technology — it’s done efficiently.”
Rotary Club Secretary Chris Michalakis serves as the project’s chair. As a retired fighter pilot and international airline pilot, he explained, healthy vision meant the difference between life and death for him.
“Of course it [good vision] is important to everyone, but to me, my life depended on it,” he said. “I’ve had the great gift of great vision for so long. If we could just make one more person’s life better by being able to see, what a great gift that is.”
Since the program began, the Rotary Club of Jacksonville has hosted doctors from all over the world, including Africa, India, the Philippines and Vietnam. It is an annual program, despite a two-year suspension because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that typically hosts two doctors each year.
It costs $16,000 for each doctor to participate in the program, Michalakis said.
“The American Academy of Ophthalmology contributes $8,000 per doctor and invoices our club $8,000 for each doctor,” he explained in an e-mail. “The Edna Sproull Williams Foundation matches the Rotary Club of Jacksonville’s contributions up to $4,000. Our membership contributions amount to $4,000 per doctor.”
While in Jacksonville, the doctors visited with several local clinics and practices — Mayo Clinic-Jacksonville, Nemours Children Health, Jacksonville and Vision is Priceless, among others.
“What distinguishes our club’s international project is truly the global reach and the enduring impact we have for providing the gift of sight to underserved communities,” said Michalakis. “A lot of rotary clubs have international projects, but I think our is, by far-reaching around the world to grab these opportunities for the gift of vision. I think that’s pretty special.”
The Rotary Club of Jacksonville was founded in 1912. It was Florida’s first rotary club.
By Michele Leivas
Resident Community News
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