Local eye doctor volunteers in El Salvador

Standing in a makeshift vision clinic in the town of Tamanique, El Salvador, Bellevue optometrist Mary Baker is surrounded by thousands of used eyeglasses, each carefully packaged and marked. Within the next three and a half days, some 1,000 pairs will be distributed to villagers who waited to see her and the other eyecare professionals who have traveled from the United States as part of Peace Health’s vision mission.

December 10, 2015 4:12 pm
Mary Baker stands with the many supplies she and other optometrists brought on their trip to El Salvador earlier this year. Members of the public can donate used eyeglasses off for reuse at Baker’s office in the Overlake neighborhood.
Mary Baker stands with the many supplies she and other optometrists brought on their trip to El Salvador earlier this year. Members of the public can donate used eyeglasses off for reuse at Baker’s office in the Overlake neighborhood.

Standing in a makeshift vision clinic in the town of Tamanique, El Salvador, Bellevue optometrist Mary Baker is surrounded by thousands of used eyeglasses, each carefully packaged and marked. Within the next three and a half days, some 1,000 pairs will be distributed to villagers who waited to see her and the other eyecare professionals who have traveled from the United States as part of Peace Health’s vision mission.

The locals surrounding this agricultural hill town, home to about 5,000 people, traveled long distances to visit the makeshift vision clinic Baker and the others set up in late September. While there, they saw 471 patients to treat eye disease and dispense the recycled reading, distance and sunglasses that had been donated in the United States.

Baker, who owns Overlake Family Vision, joined members of the Bellingham Central Lions Club, Lacey Sunrise Lions Club, Northwest Lions Eyeglasses Recycling Center, two other optometrists and some pre-optometry students. They set up their diagnostic equipment at the temporary community center clinic and got to work giving the gift of sight to many who otherwise couldn’t fully see. This town has no permanent eye clinic where locals can go for eyecare. And yet the temporary clinic operated at a fairly high technical level, thanks to equipment Peace Health has purchased over the years. This year, a new autorefractor gave Baker and the other optometrists accurate readings, with the help of local student volunteers who served as interpreters.


Now home, Baker fondly recalls one of her patients, an 18-year-old boy who needed a very high prescription and had never before tried on a pair of glasses. “We happened to have a pair of glasses that was very close to his prescription. When I put the glasses on his face, he beamed from ear to ear and said, `I can see!’ in Spanish,” said Baker. “His reaction caused my eyes to well up with tears.” Since the boy’s prescription is extremely high, the glasses need to be made precisely to fit his face, so he will receive a new pair of glasses made in the United States and sent to him.

“This type of work is my passion. I speak Spanish and being with a Spanish speaking community allowed me to better serve them,” said Baker, who added that many of her patients simply wanted to be able to see well enough to read the Bible or to thread a needle.

“They were so appreciative when they received their glasses. Giving people a pair of glasses they would not otherwise have, changes lives. People can make a living and put food on the table. If you can’t see, you can’t do a lot.”

Baker, who donates her personal time to helping others receive the gift of sight, collects used glasses in her office at 1951 152nd PL NE, #100, and donates them to the Lions Club, where they are cleaned and packaged to send on vision missions. The public is invited to drop off used glasses at her office. For more information call 425-638-0700 or go online to http://bellevue-optometrist.com.