BORDER HEALTH

by Michael S. Clifford, Managing Editor

Juárenses Can See Again, Thanks To Free Surgery

Some elderly Juárenses and El Pasoans are seeing the world with renewed focus after receiving free cataract surgery from an El Paso doctor, according to the El Paso Times.

"Before I couldn't see anything. Now I can see very well," Pascal Covarrubias Orozco told Times reporter Tammy Fonce-Olivas.

Covarrubias has been blind for two years. Family members believed he would never see again, because of their limited income,his great-grandaughter told the Times. Through the Vista Entre Las Fronteras project, he received the $6,000 cataract surgery he needed for free.

Opthamologist Dr. Louis Alpern donated his skills to help people "in my own backyard," he told the Times. Anesthesiologist George Springer and internist Dr. Luis Porras also helped in the procedure. This is the 12th year the project has helped poor people with cataracts. Cataracts are "a natural development of aging that causes poor vision," the paper said.

Six people from Juárez and El Paso received the surgery this year.

Source: El Paso Times

University to Help Colonia Water Problems

Money to install septic tanks, connect water lines and sewers or improve household plumbing in colonias on both sides of the border is part of a $1.73 million grant to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), according to the El Paso Times.

The Paseo del Norte Health Foundation gave the money to the university's Center for Environmental Resource Management to manage its "When Water Works for Health" program. UTEP will coordinate the efforts of the University of Texas at Houston School of Public Health, El Paso Community College and community volunteers for the two-year project.

The money will also help educate residents about water quality with school and community-based programs.

Source: El Paso Times