Flying Eye Hospital drops in.
MOUNTAIN VIEW — From the outside, the Flying Eye Hospital could blend in with other aircraft at Moffett Federal Airfield.
But the massive MD-10 jet, donated by FedEx, hides a state-of-the-art teaching center for ophthalmology — medicine for the eyes.
Repurposed by New Yorkbased nonprofit Orbis International, the mobile hospital will rival the technology of top eye care centers on the ground when it sets off this fall to train doctors and nurses in areas of the world where underserved
“Everyone understands the importance of good eyes, and everyone wants their kids to have good eyes.” — Bob Ranck, CEO and president of Orbis
patients struggle with vision issues that could be solved with the right medical know-how.
Orbis showcased the Flying Eye Hospital at Moffett Field this week for the last stop in its six-city U.S. promotional tour that kicked off in Los Angeles. The mobile medical center, Google’s guest at Moffett, made its first visit to Silicon Valley as part of Orbis’ push to build relationships with the area’s innovators and philanthropists and discuss how new technology could help Orbis on its mission to end “curable blindness” — the World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of blindness worldwide is either preventable or treatable.
“We came to the heart of technology because we have a lot of technology on the airplane,” said Bob Ranck, CEO and president of Orbis.
The new Flying Eye Hospital is Orbis’ third since 1982, when Orbis’ eye hospital was the first of its kind, according to Ranck. It replaced earlier jets that were retired. Other medical charities have gone mobile in order to serve the neediest patients around the world, but Ranck said the Flying Eye Hospital’s emphasis on training doctors rather than just serving patients sets it apart. The massive jet gives Orbis a large, sterile space to house demonstrations by volunteer experts: Surgeries in an operating room are broadcast live into a “classroom” at the front of the plane comprising 46 typical airplane seats.
The latest mobile hospital, six years in the making, boasts cutting-edge tools and a system to broadcast surgeries in 3-D that Orbis says even major universities don’t yet use.
Small groups of doctors will get hands-on training in the plane’s operating room, but Orbis hopes the 3-D tech will let additional trainees feel like they’re standing next to the surgeon-incharge. Audiences in the classroom will have 3-D glasses that allow the same crucial depth perception that a microscope provides. Surgeries that usually take 15 minutes could take up to an hour as trainees in the classroom ask questions in real time.
A room near the plane’s center hosts top-notch laser machines and an eye surgery simulator that Orbis’ spokeswoman, Joni Watson, called “the world’s most expensive video game.” Further back is a recovery area where nurses care for patients pre- and post-operation. For staff, sometimes it’s easy to forget the whole setup is on a plane.
“Here, we have more than a normal ophthalmologist would have,” said head ophthalmologist Antonio Jaramillo, laughing.
But it’s more than just whiz-bang gadgets. Child patients on the Flying Eye Hospital get teddy bears to comfort them before and after surgery. Angela Purcell, the head nurse, adds a special touch: Each bear gets an eye patch, like the one its young owner will wear.
The plane’s teaching stops, usually just a few weeks each, take extensive planning. Generally, a government agency or ophthalmic group reaches out to Orbis asking for help with a certain technique or area of care. The nonprofit then sends a small group — logistical support as well as one nurse, one ophthalmologist and one engineer — for a preliminary visit one year ahead to scope out the area and observe local medical workers.
During the visit itself, the Flying Eye Hospital crew works simultaneously on the plane and in local hospitals so that doctors and nurses can train with their own tools. Volunteers model everything from surgical procedures to sterilization techniques to keep materials clean. Orbis’ advanced equipment is ideal for instruction but not always representative of what a local doctor has to work with.
Finally, six weeks after each trip, Orbis returns to check in on patients as well as doctors and nurses putting their new skills to use. Ranck said that when doctors from some other medical charities leave the countries where they’re working, some poor child who was next in line for treatment “cries because nobody is able to treat them.”
“When we leave, the child doesn’t cry,” Ranck said. “There’s a doctor to treat them.”
The Flying Eye Hospital will take off in September with visits to Shenyang, China, and Medan, Indonesia, for three weeks apiece. But for now, Orbis is inviting interested and influential people to come see its new plane and learn more about the nonprofit’s programs. The publicity blitz will continue after Indonesia with an Asian leg in Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong.
The Flying Eye Hospital runs with the support of a bevy of private and corporate donors. FedEx provides pilots as well as the plane itself; the tech company Crestron donated the plane’s extensive screens; even the teddy bears that the Flying Eye Hospital’s child patients receive come courtesy of corporate partner Omega.
But Orbis says a Wednesday reception at Moffett was aimed simply at introducing the plane and its technology to the curious. The reception, originally planned for 50 people, ballooned to 100. Guests ranged from medical experts like Raj Bhandari, physician-in-chief at Kaiser Permanente, to wealthy tech and business leaders like serial entrepreneur Steve Kirsch.
Ranck and others at Orbis said the Flying Eye Hospital’s work is an easy sell, both for collaborators and for communities that are sometimes skeptical of medical intervention.
“Everyone understands the importance of good eyes, and everyone wants their kids to have good eyes,” Ranck said. “When you say, I can come provide better eye care, it’s wonderfully welcome.”