DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – A one-of-a-kind plane is coming to this year’s Vectren Dayton Air Show.
The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital travels the world performing surgeries, and this June 23rd and 24th weekend, you’ll be able to see it for yourself.
This is Orbis’ first time at the air show with the MD-10 aircraft. It’s the biggest and the most advanced aircraft Orbis has had so far.
The crew of Orbis works to fight avoidable blindness by performing eye surgeries and training others. It’s a hospital in the sky with state-of-the-art surgery and teaching facilities.
“It’s a one of a kind airplane,” volunteer pilot David Hayes said. “Behind this wall is an entire hospital suite, There’s a screening area, laser surgery room, a pre-op room, an operating room, a recovery room, a sterilization room, an audio/visual suite.”
Surgery is only a small part of what the Orbis team does. They’re primarily a teaching hospital for other doctors and nurses.
And their reach, as you can imagine, is global. Orbis flies all over the world, typically to impoverished countries that could use more training in eye surgeries to strengthen its health systems.
“While an eye surgery is taking place in the OR. The doctors and nurses and anesthesiologists in the classroom, as well, watching it live, talking to the surgeons as they do the work,” Hayes said.
“We’ll fly to countries that invite us in and whatever they’re particular need is for their county, be it cataracts, glaucoma, [retinoblastoma] , even cornea replacement. Whatever their shortfall is, that’s what we help with.”
