From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
ORBIS International is
an international
non-profit
non-governmental organization
(NGO) focusing on prevention of
blindness and the treatment of
eye
diseases in
developing countries. It is
best known for its "flying eye
hospital", presently a
McDonnell Douglas DC-10. ORBIS
is headquartered in
New York, with offices in
Houston,
London,
Hong Kong, and
Taipei.
In addition to the flying eye
hospital, ORBIS operates
hospital-based programs in several
countries, and works with local
medical research and health-care
organization on blindness
prevention and eye disease
treatment. A new program called
"Cyber-Sight" uses the
Internet to connect
opthalmologists for one-on-one
collaboration and
mentoring.
ORBIS is a founding partner,
along with the
World Health Organization, in
Vision 2020: The Right to Sight,
"a worldwide concerted effort
designed to eliminate avoidable
blindness by the year 2020."
History
ORBIS was founded in 1982 with
a grant from the
U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and a
number of private donors. The
first flying eye hospital was a
McDonnell Douglas DC-8 donated
by
United Airlines. The ORBIS jet
visited 24 countries in its first
two years of operation.
By the late 1980s it was clear
that a larger aircraft would be
needed. Funded by private
donations, ORBIS purchased the
DC-10-10 in
1992 and it was placed in
service in
1994, and the DC-8 was
retired.
The ORBIS DC-10
The ORBIS airborne eye hospital
is a
DC-10-10 model, and was the
second DC-10 aircraft built, in
1970. It was used as a test
aircraft by
McDonnell Douglas, and then
was acquired for passenger service
by
Laker Airways. It then passed
through several hands before its
acquisition by ORBIS in 1992 for
$14 million, which registered it
as N220AU.
Conversion of the aircraft took
18 months and cost a further $15
million. The work was performed by
Mobile Aerospace Engineering, Inc.
in
Mobile, Alabama. It was
re-launched on
May 7,
1994, and its first
operational mission was to
Beijing, China on
July 23,
1994.
In addition to the flight deck,
the aircraft contains (from
forward to aft) a classroom, an
audio-visual room, the
laser room, the
operating room, the
recovery room, and farthest
aft, the communications center.
The operating room was placed in
the center of the aircraft in
order to be the most stable
location in case of bad weather at
the location.
The classroom accommodates 48
students, who are usually
host-country physicians, who can
watch surgery being performed in
the operating room, or recordings
of previous operations. It is also
used for lectures and discussions
by ORBIS teaching staff.
The audio-visual room is where
controls for the 16 cameras, 8
microphones and 54
television monitors are
located. These permit viewing of
surgery in the classroom and
elsewhere on the aircraft.
Surgical procedures are recorded,
edited and duplicated onboard so
that a record of the procedures
taught during each program can be
donated to the host-country
ophthalmic community.
The laser room contains
laser-based
diagnostic tools and
laboratory stations for use with
animal-eye surgical practice
training.
The lower deck (belly) of the
aircraft contains an equipment
laboratory and technical center
where ORBIS biomedical engineers
teach host-country technicians how
to maintain and repair
opthalmological equipment.
Other programs
In addition to the flying eye
hospital, ORBIS operates permanent
programs with local partners in
several countries. As of
2005, these included
Ethiopia,
Bangladesh,
China,
India, and
Vietnam. The programs include
developing specialized hospital
facilities,
eye banks, patient and health
care worker training, and
prevention and treatment programs.
ORBIS also operates short-term,
hospital-based training and
specialized treatment programs in
places where it is not possible to
land the DC-10 aircraft.
