Welcome to our web site. Enfoque Ixcán is a non-profit organization which provides eye care to a remote jungle region of Guatemala. Our program is unique in that we train, equip and otherwise enable local eye health promoters to provide eye care so that they can serve their communities on a year around basis. They provide basic eye exams, eye glasses, eye health education and access to surgical care.

Please take a few minutes to look over our web site. We think you’ll find it interesting and informative. Besides the photos in our “photo gallery,” the button to the left will take you to a narrated slide show, which tells some of our story.

Enfoque Ixcán is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your donations are completely deductible. You can either send a check to our home address or click the PayPal button in the left hand margin.

Thanks for visiting. If you have questions or comments, feel free to write me.
Scott Pike, OD, president.

Recent happenings and up-coming events…

… Dr. Pike and his wife, Joene, spent 2 weeks in Guatemala in February. They visited the villages of Santa Maria Tzejá and Mayalan in the Ixcán. Most days were spent providing training to the 3 eye health promoters, Pedro, Felipe and Arnulfo. Approximately 25 patients were examined and each was used to enhance the training of old and new skills, such as determining eye glass needs and screening for referral for professional eye care, such as for cataract and other eye surgeries.
… Acting on a lead from the area Ministry of Health office, we made contact with a mission group from North Carolina. They are visiting the village of Las Margaritas, in the Ixcán, and need someone to do eye care for them during their visit, as they were unable to find an optometrist to make the trip with them. Pedro and Felipe agreed to work with this mission group for 4 days, examining for glasses, dispensing glasses and screening people for surgeries. This will be a 3-way win. The people of the village get much needed eye care, the NC mission group is able to fill its commitment to provide eye care to the village, and Pedro and Felipe obtain valuable experience in providing eye care.
… Upon arriving home there was a message in the Enfoque Ixcán e-mail box from another village in the Ixcán which would like us to bring eye care to their village. Word travels fast. We’re hoping to serve this village later this year.

…The next Enfoque Ixcán training trip will be with Amigo Eye Care in August, 2010. The Amigos are a student group from Pacific University College of Optometry in Forest Grove, Oregon. We will have clinics in 3 different villages and if the past is any gauge, we should exam 700 or more people.