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MATT OLIVA

E
MEDICAL YE CENTER

EYE CARE ACROSS THE GLOBE | PEOPLE GAIN SIGHT, DOCTORS GAIN SKILLS

steve boyarsky
christopher briscoe

YOU RECENTLY RETURNED FROM ETHIOPIA. WHAT KIND Himalayan Cataract Project built a lens factory in Nepal that manufactured lenses for $5 which
OF WORK WERE YOU DOING THERE? were of equal quality to lenses in the United States. He figured out how to deliver safe surgery
in remote areas high in the Himalayas. Those techniques now are what we're teaching in Africa.
MATT: I typically go to Ethiopia three times a year for two weeks each time performing and Last week in Harar, Ethiopia, we performed 1,200 cataract surgeries in six days using the team
teaching cataract surgery. I train local doctors and nurses, deliver care, and support infrastructure techniques that Dr. Ruit and the Nepalese developed. It's not just about a doctor doing surgery,
needs for eyecare. I primarily focus on cataract and cornea transplant surgery. I checked on our it's about organizing the nurses, the cooks, the transport, the local staff, and volunteers.
new eye hospital in Bahar Dar and our refractive surgery (LASIK) program in Addis Ababa.
IN WHAT COUNTRIES DOES CURE BLINDNESS DO WORK?
IS IT SAFE? ISN'T THERE A CIVIL WAR IN ETHIOPIA? MATT: We still work in Nepal, but we also work in Ethiopia and Ghana. I first went to Ethiopia
MATT: Ethiopia has fallen on hard times. There's a major conflict going on in the northern in 2008 when I moved to Southern Oregon. I've fallen in love with the culture and the people and
region of Tigray. I was working in Harar and Bahar Dar, a long way from the violence. We were now direct our programs in Ethiopia. We're on track to do about 25,000 cataract surgeries per
able to treat several thousand patients on this trip. I have partners on both sides of the conflict, year. We started with one doctor partner in the Tigray region and now we have 23 different part-
and everyone loses in a war. I am hoping the conflict ends quickly. Between Covid and the political ners. We're a major funder of medical training and infrastructure programs in the country as well.
situation, the number of blind keeps growing.

HOW DOES A $25 DONATION THAT YOUR LOCAL
TELL ME ABOUT CURE BLINDNESS AND THE HIMALAYAN PATIENTS GIVE, CURE BLINDNESS?
CATARACT PROJECT. MATT: We raise money from individual donors, foundations, and receive U.S. government sup-
MATT: So, two names; same thing. I've been working with Cure Blindness since I was a medical port, including USAID funds. Many people who have had cataract surgery in the U.S. want to
student in 1998. It’s also called the Himalayan Cataract Project because it started in Nepal where provide the gift of vision to someone else. I tell patients, “For $25 you could help someone else
they had one of the highest rates of blindness in the world. My friends and fellow doctors, Dr. have that same experience.” When people have an elective sight restoring surgery with myself
Ruit and Dr. Tabin, were focused on curing cataract blindness in Nepal. Dr. Ruit developed some or my partner, Dr. Welling, such as LASIK or a refractive lens exchange (RLE), the Medical Eye
amazing techniques that allowed the price of cataract surgery to drop to $25 per case and he Center donates a free cataract surgery in Ghana or Ethiopia. We started our Global Partners
initiated a system to provide high-quality and low-cost cataract surgery in remote places in Nepal. Program about three years ago and we've donated upwards of $75,000 to Cure Blindness.
Patients love it because they get their sight fixed, and they are contributing to someone else get-
ting their sight back and their life improved.
I saw the miracle of cataract surgery changing lives. Our non-profit helped build a center of
excellence in Nepal that served the rich and poor alike. Fast forward 20 years, and now there's a
minimal amount of blindness from cataracts in Nepal. We've refocused our efforts, and hence our HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INVOLVED WITH CURE BLINDNESS?
name. We're not only working in the Himalayas, but we're increasingly working in Africa where
the incidence of blindness is comparable to Nepal 25 years ago. MATT: In my last year of medical school at the University of Washington I worked in Nepal for
two months. I saw firsthand what Dr. Tabin, and Dr Ruit were doing. A light bulb turned on! I
finished my eye surgery residency and pursued further training in Australia followed by more
WHY DO PEOPLE LIVING IN AFRICA HAVE SUCH A HIGH volunteer time in Nepal. My first medical practice was in downtown Seattle where it was dif-
INCIDENCE OF BLINDNESS? ficult getting out of the city and into nature. I could see Mount Rainier in one direction and the
Olympic Mountains in the other, but it was hard to access wilderness. My business partner and I
MATT: There is a high rate of cataracts in Africa. About 1.6% of Ethiopians are blind. Most were the eye doctors for the Seattle Supersonics, so we had to go to every game. There were too
blindness is related to cataracts, which is completely treatable! High altitudes, poor nutrition, and many demands. I was having friction with my business partner around working overseas. My wife,
genetic factors contribute, but mainly it's because there's so few doctors doing quality cataract Dr. Davis Wilkins, and I decided that Southern Oregon would be a good fit. She is a palliative care
surgery. Most of the doctors in Ethiopia are in cities and the vast majority of the population lives specialist and there was a big need for that service in Southern Oregon. Our skills were needed,
in rural areas. People tend to go blind before they've had a chance to see a doctor who could fix and we were drawn to like-minded partners. I joined Dr. Jorizzo and Dr. Imperia who had both
their problem. We're trying to change that. had worked overseas and were supportive of me spending considerable time volunteering.

WHAT DID DR. RUIT HAVE TO DEVELOP TO BRING SO, YOUR SOUTHERN OREGON MEDICAL PARTNERS
CATARACT SURGERY TO NEPAL? SUPPORT YOU WORKING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?
MATT: He's a visionary leader who looked at a problem and came up with innovative solutions. MATT: With the understanding that I work hard and efficiently when I am home, I could work
He worked with a very famous Australian, Dr. Fred Hollows, a crotchety but outspoken leader overseas with Cure Blindness. Dr. John Welling joined Medical Eye Center a couple years later.
for the Aboriginal people in Australia who asked, “Why should poor people in any country remain He was one of our Cure Blindness International fellows through the University of Utah. He fell in
blind when we have the capacity to treat it?” Dr. Hollows felt that even the poorest people deserve love with Southern Oregon, too. He is our country program director for Ghana. John is a fantastic
high quality care. Dr. Ruit took that mission to Nepal and figured out how to bring cataract sur- cataract surgeon and young leader in international eyecare. Several of the other partners have
gery to the masses. He developed techniques that made cataract surgery fast, safe, inexpensive, also contributed, including Dr. Koenigsman and Dr. Lemley. It's a cause that everyone supports.
and of exceptional quality.
I've been on the Cure Blindness board of directors since 2005. We're an expanding organization
Implant lenses in the 1980s used to cost hundreds of dollars. People would get cataract surgery and our budget is upwards of $15 million. Our goal is audacious—we really want to eliminate
in Nepal, but they couldn't afford the implant lens. So, they would get these huge “Coke bottle” needless blindness in the world.
glasses, which if you lost them, left them worse off than before the surgery. Dr. Ruit and the
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