Advancing Eye Care with Local Retinal Detachment Repair
by Raiili Pellizzari
(L-R): Dr. Alex Pisig, MD, Ophthalmologist who led bringing simple retinal detachment repair to TBRHSC and Bob Campbell, first patient to receive treatment locally.Until recently, patients in Northwestern Ontario experiencing simple retinal detachment faced urgent trips to Winnipeg or Southern Ontario for treatment. The long journeys and the requirement of patients to travel by car after treatment were made even more difficult by winter highway conditions.
Now, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) can perform simple retinal detachment repair locally.
This important advancement means patients can receive timely care closer to home, reducing travel burdens, and helping protect vision when every moment counts.
This achievement was made possible through the collaboration of Dr. Alex Pisig, TBRHSC ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon, the TBRHSC Lions Vision Care Centre team, Hospital administration, and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation, whose donor-funded surgical gas canisters helped bring this service to Northwestern Ontario.
“I want to help people here so they don’t have to travel to Winnipeg or elsewhere – especially in winter,” said Dr. Pisig.
The first patient to receive the treatment in Thunder Bay, Bob Campbell, was extremely grateful to Dr. Pisig and everyone who made it possible to receive this treatment locally.
“Without Dr. Pisig and those first gas canisters the Foundation funded two weeks earlier, I would have had to drive to Winnipeg and back,” Campbell said. “Thank you to everyone involved in expanding access to specialized care and improving patient experiences across our region.”
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