Nurse part of medical team that flies in to teach eye care
Jackie Newton is a staff nurse working on board the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital
Tell me about your work on board the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, the world’s only ophthalmic teaching hospital.
Orbis is an international nonprofit organisation. Since 1983, it has been fighting blindness around the world as we believe no one should go blind from conditions that are treatable, curable or preventable. The organisation is based in the US, with offices in 14 countries, and we have worked in 92 countries. The Africa head office is in Cape Town.
Millions of people go blind every year and millions more suffer poor vision because they can’t get access to the care most of us take for granted. Four in five people are blind from avoidable causes, and 90% of these people live in developing countries. Orbis helps developing nations build the skills, knowledge and resources to provide eye care in their communities using our unique tools, one being the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital. The Orbis FEH is complete with a state-of-theart operating theatre and patient recovery and laser treatment rooms, so local doctors, nurses and medics benefit from hands-on training from Orbis volunteer faculty. As the staff nurse, in addition to carrying out the planning visits, I create nursing programmes to suit the needs of the local nurses.
You travel a lot as part of your work. Tell me about some of the places you have travelled to teach eye nurses.
I have travelled to so many incredible places, and on the weekends we may get time off to do some sightseeing. I remember when I was on a an FEH programme in Peru we organised a trip to Machu Picchu. Also the Great Wall while in China, the Taj Mahal in India, Zanzibar while in Tanzania and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. When not in hospital mode, the FEH is used for goodwill tours to raise awareness and funding. I am currently in Palm Beach with the FEH, which is raising support for our programmes.
You worked as a nurse before moving to training — what drew you to nursing?
I did not choose nursing as a career. My mother encouraged me to become a nurse. I was reluctant at first, but six months into my training I realised I really enjoyed serving and playing a part in a patient’s recovery. I found I had compassion and was able to empathise with patients. Bringing comfort to someone who is sick is rewarding. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment.
What did you want to be as a child?
I always wanted to be an air hostess, to travel the world and serve people. When flying on the Orbis plane from one country to the next, I am sometimes tasked with being the flight attendant, and so my childhood dream has come true, but at the same time I get to be part of a team whose vision is to
I realised I really enjoyed serving and playing a part in a patient’s recovery
transform lives through the prevention and treatment of blindness worldwide.
What work would you do if you couldn’t do this?
It would be work that is hands-on and practical and where I would be serving people.
I am attracted to being part of teams who help people in countries in crisis. If I was not working for Orbis at the time of the Ebola crisis, I would have been interested in training to help in this type of crisis and going over to help these patients.