Mission trip to Panama shows 11 Decorah residents "how the majority of the world exists"

Dr. Brad Schwartz checks the vision of a Panamanian

A group of 11 Decorah residents has returned from a mission trip to Panama where they held free eye clinics and distributed between 400 to 450 eyeglasses and sunglasses.

The group consisted of Decorah optometrist Dr, Brad Schwartz, his sons, Grant and Drew, and Meehan & Schwartz staff members Kaia Anfinson, Carrie Brandel, Laura Busta, Amy Courtney, Sally Erion, Jamie Gavle, Mary Hemesath and Monica Maurer.  The 11 Decorah residents were in Panama from June 17th through June 26th.

Schwartz says he wanted his two sons and members of his staff to observe a different culture first hand.  The mission trip took them to four different villages in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama--where the Decorah Lutheran Church has had a continuing mission connection through the Operation Safe Drinking Water program.

But it was vision care, not clean water, that brought the group of 11 to Bocas de Toro. 

The clinics were set up in three parts.  The first part consisted of three technicians in the group who administered eye chart reading tests to the people who came.  The second part consisted of four opticians who tested the people for visual acuity.  The third part consisted of people who fit the Panamanians with glasses after their prescriptions were determined, selecting from glasses that had been collected in Decorah before the trip--nearly 500 pairs of glasses in all.  They were presorted according to prescription, to make distributing the glasses easier.

Dr. Schwartz says the operation of the eye clinics was made easier by the help of the Almerante, Panama Lions Club.  Six members of the club donated 8 hours apiece of their time to help with the mission trip.  Help also came from some unexpected sources--a taxi driver who drove the group to one community was so touched by the mission trip that he stayed all day to help translate for the Decorah residents, passing up any opportunity to handle other taxi rides that day.

Monica Mauer, one of the technicians who administered eye chart tests, said the group was greeted warmly everywhere they went.  When asked if she would be interested in returned to Panama for another mission trip, she answered, "You bet I would."

Dr. Schwartz says the trip was not only a chance to give help to local communities, but also a chance for the Decorah group to observe a different culture.  "Life in Decorah is life in Decorah," he explained, adding, "I wanted (us) to see how the majority of the word exists."

(Left to right): Decorah residents Carrie Brandel, Kaia Anfinson and Mary Hemesath, a Panamanian eye patient and Almerante Lions Club President and eye clinic volunteer Simon Balid

Drew and Grant Schwartz (seated at the table) helped operate the eye clinics

The Decorah and Almerante residents, together

One eye clinic required transportation in boats and dugout canoes