The economic hardships have increased the need for our indigent services by five percent (5%).

Additionally, medical establishments reject non-paying, uninsured and Medicaid patients. Typi-

cally, the Center serves about 1,500 individual patients a year; in general patients come from low

socioeconomic environments. We serve children with special needs and alter examination tech-

niques accordingly; disabled children often require wheelchairs, electronic monitors, or even com-

panion animals, all of which we accommodate well in our offices.

Ophthalmologic conditions in children require immediate and skilled medical care; often these in-

dividuals have nowhere else to turn for help but are welcome at the Center. The Center is Atlanta’s

only free pediatric facility devoted to preserve, rehabilitate and restore sight. Without the Clinic,

many of its patients would not receive timely treatment and could face potential blindness. Our

post-cataract surgery rehabilitation program produced incredible results, averaging 100% success

rate.

Our Outreach Program has proven highly effective and referrals from physicians, schools and

community organizations receive immediate attention as well. The medical team provides early

diagnosis, treatment and prevention of visual problems because it decreases the possibility to miss

curable and/or treatable pathology and warranty a normal visual development. Your loyalty and

generosity over the last years has allowed us to carry out this worthy cause and enabled children

the gift of sight.

blindness. 

1,225 Atlanta children received free treatment this year

I n s i d e t h i s

i s s u e :

Medical

Team 2

Surgical Care 3

Outreach 4

Patients 5

Publications 6

Fellowship 7

Challenges 8

A LIFETIME OF VISION

THE JAMES H. HALL EYE CENTER “Celebrating our 31st anniversary with significant advances

towards blindness prevention”

December 2010

This photo shows a newborn at the

Intensive Care Unit at Piedmont Hos-

pital Nursery receiving treatment for

his retinopathy of prematurity with

cryo ( cold) therapy. The long cryo

probe is applied to the conjunctiva to

freeze the abnormal area of the ret-

ina. This will prevent a retinal de-

tachment in a large percentage of

cases.

2

 

 

T h e H a l l E y e C e n t e r ’ s m e d i c a l t e a m i s a l w a y s o n c a l l . T h e y h a v e a c c o m p l i s h e d t h e i r

a l t r u i s t i c m i s s i o n t h r o u g h h a r d a n d c o m p e t e n t w o r k .

S T A T I S T I C S F O R I N D I G E N T C A R E

P a t i e n t C a r e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 0

S u r g i c a l C a r e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4

H o s p i t a l C o n s u l t a t i o n s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 6

THE TEAM THAT MAKES MIRACLES HAPPEN

They are from left to right: Dr. Joshua  Elliott, Dr. Zane Pollard, Dr. Victoria Hsu, Dr. Mark Bordenca and Dr. Marc Greenberg. 

3

SURGICAL SUCCESS

This is a 5 year old male that we diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma of the right orbit a very malignant tumor.

Same patient with a normal looking right orbit after three months of chemotherapy. His vision on diagnosis was hand motion and now is 20/25.

4

The Center reached out internationally to provide surgical care for two children from Honduras and El Salvador.

Onechild received strabismus surgery for crossed eyes and the other went a ptosis repair for a drooping eyelid that

interfered with vision.

T H E J A M E S H . H A L L E Y E C E N T E R

Pre- opera- tive and post-

operative patient from El Salvador operated by Dr. Zane Pollard for right esotropia (crossed eye)

A REASON TO SMILE

5

6

   

OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2010:  

In July, we began the training of our 35th fellow. This year’s fellow, Dr. Victoria Hsu, is from California. All our previous fellows, as well as Dr. Hsu, have passed the written and oral boards given by the American Board of Ophthalmology and are fully certified to practice ophthalmology.

Dr. Marc Greenberg presented a paper on the surgical treatment of Duane’s Syndrome at the American Academy of Ophthal-mology’s annual meeting held in Chicago in October. He also lectured on “Strabismus Surgery for Duane’s Syndrome.” The Hall Center physicians have pioneered ground-breaking initiatives in patient care and ongoing clinical trials.

Our paper on “Unusual Presentations of Horner Syndrome” published in the Archives of Ophthalmology has made a signifi-cant contribution to understanding the complexities of this disease. This paper has already become one of the standard re-sources on this topic.

We continue our commitment to clinical research projects with several ongoing studies and completed written work that has been accepted for journal publication.

Dr. Zane Pollard has written a medical book chapter on “Ocular Toxocara Infections” which is scheduled for publication.

Dr. Bob Gold, a previous fellow in practice in Orlando, Florida, is serving as the pediatric ophthalmology section editor for Ophthalmic Surgery News. This honor recognizes his outstanding leadership and contributions to pediatric ophthalmology.

Dr. Geoffrey Bradford, another former Hall Center fellow, has been appointed resident supervisor for the ophthalmology resi-dency program at the University of West Virginia. We are proud of his leadership in the training of future ophthalmologists.

Our previous fellows continue to communicate with us on a regular basis to discuss interesting and challenging cases and to ask for long-distance advice on patient care.

Dr. Pollard has been selected to review papers submitted for publication to the following journals: Archives of Ophthalmol-ogy, American Journal of Ophthalmology, Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Binocular Vision Quarterly, and Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. He is on the editorial board of Bin-ocular Vision Quarterly.

7

HALL EYE CENTER FULTON HEALTH DEPART-MENT CLINIC

260 Patient Visits 250 Eye Exams

300 Emergency Cases

230 Referrals

WE ARE FACING A TRUE CRISIS IN AMERICAN MEDICINE

We need to stress the fact that last year only 11 new pediatric ophthalmologists graduating from fellowships joined the

American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Of these 11, only 5 were staying in the USA as

the others went back to their country of origin. This means that we are dealing with an even greater shortage

of pediatric ophthalmologists in the USA.

Atlanta, like most cities, has no surplus of pediatric ophthalmologists; the Center has helped graduate 35 pediatric ophthal-

mologists in the last 20 years to fill this critical gap. Our training fellows take care of a large number of uninsured and

Medicaid patients during their training year. The program deals with a high volume of patients, complicated pathology and

the fellows achieve unsurpassed surgical skills as they perform over 1,000 complex surgeries.

W h a t y o u r g e n e r o u s s u p p o r t e n a b l e s u s t o d o :    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8

JAMES H. HALL EYE CENTER

5445 Meridian Mark Road—Suite 220

Atlanta, Georgia 30342

We are very fortunate to have long-standing relation-ships and loyal supporters who make such care pos-sible. Our donors, our volunteers, and the doctors who devoted their time and expertise allowed us to pursue our important mission in 2010. This past year, our exceptional physicians contributed time valued at over $204,000. All administrative work is performed by volunteers which enables us to direct every dollar donated to the Center entirely to the delivery of eye care to Georgia’s children. The im-pact of your contribution is amplified many times over.

Many thanks for your confidence in our mission, and best wishes for the coming year.

h t t p : / / f o u n d a t i o n c e n t e r . o r g / g r a n t m a k e r /

j a m e s h a l l /

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite

Our ophthalmologists provide coverage for the emergency room at Scottish Rite Hospital. This emergency room han-

dles more outpatient visits than any other children’s hospital in the United States. The availability of pediatric eye

care insures that children who arrive with injuries such as hyphemas, ruptured globes, and eyelid lacerations receive

immediate specialized treatment. Significantly, pediatric ophthalmologists are able to diagnose and treat very young

children whose ability to describe their symptoms is limited or even beyond their ability to verbalize.

CHALLENGING CASES

With philanthropic support, the Hall Center has been able to provide urgent care for needy children with serious eye diseases and conditions.

We treated a 3-year-old child with a history of a brain tumor who had sustained a minor head trauma. An unusual onset of temporary blindness had resulted from this trauma. Our training fellow, Dr. Joshua Elliott, provided the care and reassurance that helped the child and family through a traumatic experience. The child eventually re-gained his vision.

We treated a child with optic nerve glioma (a tumor of the optic nerve). This patient, who presented with extreme bulging of the eye, is now undergoing chemotherapy and is responding well.

We treated an 18-year-old patient with bilateral keratoconus (conical protrusion of the cornea). This patient was unable to see well even with glasses, but was not yet in need of a corneal transplant. We were able to provide rigid gas permeable contact lenses to improve vision and give him an enhanced capacity to succeed in school and pursue a productive life.

BRIGHT SUNSHINE OR ENDLESS NIGHT