Memphis, Tenn.-based Hamilton Eye Institute provided free cataract surgery to about 50 patients at its Cataract-A-Thon June 15 and 16, Commercial Appeal reports.
Here are four highlights:
1. Along with cataract procedures, patients received screening, eye exams, surgeries and follow-up care with nursing and anesthesiology support provided by Memphis Surgery Center and other groups.
2. The event took place in Hamilton Eye Institute's Surgery Center at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.
3. Hamilton Eye ophthalmologist Brian Fowler, MD, and cataract surgeon Emily Taylor Graves, MD, launched the Cataract-A-Thon two years ago. Dr. Fowler hopes to begin hosting Cataract-A-Thons in other cities in 2020.
4. Cataract surgery costs an estimated $3,000.
"In Memphis we have a very high poverty rate — 26 percent — and a very high uninsured rate — 17 percent — which means right here in our own backyards, neighborhoods and community, there are people who don't have access to health care just as if they were in a developing country," Dr. Fowler told Commercial Appeal.