Dr. Michael Farbowitz, eye surgeon and medical director of the Short Hills Ophthalmology Group, will be traveling to Roatan, Honduras, this February as a participant in a cataract surgical mission to treat the impoverished residents in that location.
The mission, organized and supported by SEE International, hopes to perform sight-restoring cataract surgery and other eye surgeries on more than 30 patients.
“I’m looking forward to helping as many people as possible in the time that we are there,” said Dr. Farbowitz. “Modern healthcare and technology are unavailable in many third-world locations, and I’m excited to help as many people as possible with modern surgical techniques.
He is traveling with a fellow ophthalmologist, Dr. Stephanie Becker of Hicksville, Long Island, and his two teenage daughters. “I think it is vitally important that my children understand what I do when I go on these missions. I never want them to take for granted the access that we have to modern healthcare and technology,” he said.
Dr. Farbowitz is a veteran of past medical missions, including a trip to Ghana in West Africa in 2012 and Guayaquil, Ecuador, in June 2015. “Giving of my time and skills to help others both at home and abroad has always been a part of the mission of the Short Hills Ophthalmology Group,” Dr. Farbowitz said. He is getting nearer to his goal of making medical missions an annual event, and has been an active participant in Vision Harvest, a yearly event that provides free cataract surgery to the uninsured in New Jersey around Thanksgiving time.
SEE International provides sustainable medical, surgical and educational services through volunteer ophthalmic surgeons with the objectives of restoring sight and preventing blindness to disadvantaged individuals worldwide. At the invitation of eye surgeons in developing countries, and with the approval of local health and civic authorities, SEE International recruits, organizes and deploys numerous small surgical teams worldwide to restore sight to underserved populations. Since being founded in 1974, SEE’s eye surgeons have examined more than 3.8 million patients and performed over 460,000 sight-restoring operations.
Short Hills Ophthalmology Group, run by its medical director, Michael Farbowitz, MD, is one of the oldest eye-care groups in the area. Dr. Farbowitz is a board-certified ophthalmologist who provides comprehensive medical and surgical eye care to people of all ages. His special areas of interest include laser vision correction, small incision, no-stitch cataract surgery, laser cataract surgery, and vision-correcting multifocal intraocular lens implants. His office provides full contact lens services and has an optical shop on the premises. The practice has two locations: 551 Millburn Avenue in Short Hills, and 1187 Main Avenue in Clifton. For more information, call (973) 379-2544, or visit www.shorthillseye.com.
Upon his return from Honduras, Dr. Farbowitz will be available to local school or civic organizations to speak about his trip. Contact Joy Saah at 973 202-9886 or [email protected] for details.
