Two local optometrists are headed to Central America with a vision: providing eye care to locals and teaching their own children the importance of service.
Dr. Nick Colatrella and Dr. Stacy Hinkemeyer of PineCone Vision Center, along with their children Alice and Tony and Hinkemeyer’s mother, will be participating in a service trip to Panama. The trip is sponsored through Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity. The group will leave for Panama on Feb. 13 and will be staying in the country for 10 days.
The husband-wife optometrist duo said doing a service trip connected with their field has always been a goal.
“We kind of did a trial run this summer,” Stacy Hinkemeyer said. “The kids helped us at the Special Olympics in the Twin Cities. We did eye exams there and it went pretty well.”
Colatrella said VOSH’s focus is to eradicate vision loss in developing countries. VOSH has estimated there are 670 million people worldwide that suffer from visual impairment and loss.
VOSH’s trip to Panama will include 12 optometrists and three ophthalmologists, along with family members who will assist in the project. Once in Panama, the two Sartell optometrists said, the goal is to visit 500 patients a day in San Felix and Boquete.
Duties in the villages will change day to day. One day the doctors may be checking in patients, the next they may be performing vision tests.
Hinkemeyer pointed out that the unique part of the services offered is the ability the group will have to provide patients with the prescription lenses.
“VOSH’s mission is if anybody can make it to a VOSH clinic and is in need of glasses, they will go home with glasses for free,” Colatrella said.
To do so takes some preparation. For months leading up to the trip, the family has been collecting eyeglasses, checking their prescriptions and packaging them at their office.
“We were here for at least a couple of weekends,” Hinkemeyer said, speaking about the lens preparations. “Even the kids are very good about putting the lenses in special equipment for measuring the prescription, looking at the type of lenses and the quality of the frame.”
Both Hinkemeyer and Colatrella said it’s been amazing to watch their kids step into their world and take part in preparation for the trip.
“I’ve been surprised,” Hinkemeyer said. “I know they’ve gotten more out of it than they’ve put in already.”
“We’re so fortunate,” Hinkemeyer said. “People are talking and talking to me about it and how they can they be a part of it or what can they do to help out. And that is so generous.”
Colatrella and Hinkemeyer are more than excited to take their professional skills with them and make a difference.
“This is truly going to the heart of what we do in giving people sight,”Colatrella said. “Without good vision you get poor economics, poor education, they’re not as healthy. If we can open that window to anyone, that’s professionally pretty rewarding.”
Want to give?
Colatrella and Hinkemeyer will be taking donations until they leave for Panama. Donations can be made to the Sartell Lions or directly at Pinecone Vision Center, 2180 Troop Drive, Sartell.