The Flying Eye Hospital: Medicine Meets Aviation
Discover how aviation is increasing access to eye care in communities around the world
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The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is unlike any plane you’ve seen before. Eye care nonprofit Orbis International began with a big challenge and an even bigger idea: around the world, millions of people lose their sight because they can’t access the care they need, while eye care teams struggle to get training to help them care for patients in their communities. But what if training from the world’s best experts could reach the eye care teams that need it most? Forty years ago Orbis’s iconic Flying Eye Hospital – a fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on board a plane – took its very first flight. Since then, three generations of the Flying Eye Hospital have taken training to eye care teams in over 95 countries around the world.
Join a conversation with Orbis’s vice president of clinical services and technologies, Dr. Hunter Cherwek, and director of aircraft operations and maintenance, Bruce Johnson, for an insider’s view into what it’s like to work on one of the world’s most unique aircraft and what’s ahead for this innovative organization and its fight against avoidable blindness.
This program will be presented in-person at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, and will be streamed on YouTube with live closed captioning. Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) are available at the Airbus IMAX Theater upon request. If you require another access service to fully participate or have any questions about accessibility, please contact NASMPublicLectures@si.edu. To ensure the best experience, please try to contact us at your soonest convenience.
Registration is required for in person attendance and encouraged for online viewing.
Register to attend in person at the Udvar-Hazy Center.
The GE Aviation Lecture Series is made possible by the generous support of GE Aerospace.
At the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and Online
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