Loma Linda University Medical Center Team's Sight-Saving Mission in Ethiopia

A team from Loma Linda University Medical Center's Department of Ophthalmology visited Ethiopia in June, where they performed cataract and other sight-saving surgeries for people in that African country, a spokesman for the university announced Friday.

"Stops for the team, led by Dr. Julio Narvaez and Dr. Jeffrey Ing, both ophthalmologists, include the Gimbi Adventist Hospital and the Gimbi Government Hospital in Gimbi, Ethiopia," Herbert Atienza of Loma Linda University said.

The team, made up of doctors, nurses, ophthalmic technicians, scrub technicians, and anesthetists, was in the country from June 11 to June 22, Atienza said.

They completed 102 surgeries, most involving profound blindness, and the surgeries resulted in "restoration of excellent vision for majority of patients," Atienza said.

"I feel that I received as much or more than I was able to share with the people there," Narvaez said. "The biblical saying that 'it is more blessed to give than to receive' is true."

Loma Linda University Medical Center's health system includes the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, LLUMC - East Campus, Behavioral Medicine Center, Heart and Surgical Hospital, and physician clinics. LLUMC bills itself as the only Level 1 trauma Center in the San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, and Mono counties, which covers over 40,000 square miles in Southern California.

Loma Linda University was founded 1905 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.