Christmas gift of sight: Disadvantaged get free vision-saving eye care

BOYNTON BEACH — Maria Ovalle had cataracts obstructing her vision in both eyes for about two years.

“I couldn’t read,” she said. “I couldn’t see from a distance. I couldn’t drive at night.”

Her eyes were only worsening, but Ovalle, with her limited English and no insurance, didn’t have many options to seek help.

Ovalle, 61, was one of the 25 recipients of this year’s “Gift of Sight” event — a tradition that started around 15 years ago through the Boynton Beach Caridad Center and Eye Associates of Boca Raton.

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The program grants elderly and underserved people facing blindness from cataracts, glaucoma and other eye diseases sight-saving surgeries, free of charge. Without it, someone like Ovalle might not have anywhere to turn.

Many older patients have cataracts that have progressed over the years, exacerbating their visual impairments and, subsequently, many have lost their independence and ability to work given the severity of the problems.

But as long as their eyes are otherwise healthy, someone who might only be able to make out the shape of a hand in front of them could return to having 20/20 vision after cataract removal, said Dr. Douglas Kohl of Eye Associates of Boca Raton.

Kohl is one of the six eye doctors who participated in this year’s event and also is one of its founding members.

It started with the former CEO of his office, Dr. Howard Goldman, traveling to Central and South American countries for surgical expeditions. He’d visit developing nations, such as Ecuador, Panama and Guyana, to provide vital eye care. But after travel complications brought by 9/11, he turned to helping his own.

“You could do some of these patients so much good,” Kohl said. “You can give them their their lives back.”

Above all, Kohl emphasized the collaborative nature of the project.

His practice, for example, has received the support of its corporate partner and majority owner AMSURG since the start. They are the ones who approve the use of the facility where Kohl works for charity purposes. And donations of cataract surgery supplies and lens implants come from ophthalmology company Alcon.

Maria Ovalle fled domestic violence in Guatemala 22 years ago

Ovalle immigrated to the United States from Guatemala 22 years ago. She was fleeing domestic violence. Her four children stayed.

She spoke little English and had no health care for years. But around seven years later, she found the Caridad Center. The majority of its patients were people in similar circumstances. Aside from Hispanic migrants, though, the clinic also serves many people from Haiti, said Rosa Lores, Caridad’s director of volunteer and eligibility services.

“We are really the safety net of safety nets,” Lores said. “The people we serve are those who do not have any access at all to medical care.”

It’s the largest free health care clinic in Florida and one of the largest in the U.S. Roughly 4,500 people per year depend on its medical and dental services. It was through the doctors at the center that Ovalle learned she had diabetes five or six years ago. She doesn’t know how else she would have found out.

“It’s difficult here,” she said. “Being undocumented and not having insurance — it’s not easy.”

Then, in 2019, Ovalle had a stroke in her home. Her blood sugar reached 750 and she lost function of several muscles in her face. Again, doctors at the Caridad Center helped with her recovery. But she started to notice her vision declining.

Without insurance, cataract removal in one eye would cost about $3,000. The past three years, Ovalle had developed cataracts in both.

“That’s a pretty big savings,” Kohl said. “Especially for someone who's in a situation where they've been struggling financially in other ways.”

Most people will have their onset of cataracts at some point in their 50s, Kohl said. But the need for removal surgery depends on how rapidly these develop. They can take decades to progress, and many people get them treated in their 60s or 70s, while some don’t at all.

Vision restored: 'Thank God there are ways for us to be helped'

On Nov. 21, Ovalle’s life returned somewhat to normal when her vision was restored in her left eye.

“I feel good,” she said at her checkup about a month later.

She still can’t see much out of her right eye, but she hopes to have those cataracts treated within the next year. She could, given the additional free surgeries provided by volunteer doctors at the Caridad Center. There are six of these throughout the year.

“I feel happy, really, because thank God there are ways for us to be helped,” Ovalle said. “This clinic, for me, has been a great help and such a blessing.”

Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Patients in need get free vision-saving eye care from Boca firm