For a week in March 2019 Lions In Sight, in collaboration with the Loving Eyes organization, held two, two-day eye clinics in small towns located about an hour from Nha Trang, Vietnam. Nha Trang, population 535,000, is located along the South China Sea north of Ho Chi Minh City. The clinics were held in vacant rooms of medical clinics.
Dr. Bachkim Nguyen led the team of 33 volunteer doctors and technicians. She was assisted by doctors Jack Anthony, Ed Cordes, Sandra Deselle, Mark Fujikawa, Sue Gordon, Corey Lee, Bob Meisel, and Clinton Tran. Volunteers were from the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, Corning, New York, and Viet Nam.
The group saw 4,100 patients in four days. Doctors and technicians worked non-stop each day. To handle the crowds, at times ten technicians were dispensing at once. The doctors and technicians were especially thankful for the assistance by numerous volunteer translators who traveled from Nha Trang.
A local Vietnamese optician was on-site to calibrate and fill orders for custom prescriptions. Vietnamese doctors were also on site to perform cataract operations.
The group enjoyed visiting tourist sites in and around Nha Trang during down time on set-up days.
