Saturday, January 10, 1998

Local eye doctor brings sight to African country

By LORETTA FULTON / Abilene Reporter-News

Dr. Brett Teague may not preach on his mission trips, but he does something very biblical. He restores sight.

Teague's sight restoration is literal for the hundreds of Ghanaians he has performed cataract surgery on since 1995. Whether or not the underlying spiritual gift is received is known only to the recipients.

But for Teague, an Abilene ophthalmologist, there is no doubt about the reason he spends between one and three weeks each year in the western African country bringing 20/20 vision to people who might die blind without his services.

"The Lord calls us to tithe not only our monetary resources, but also our talents. This is just an extension of that," Teague said.

Teague leaves Friday for his fourth trip to Ghana, a country with only 18 native ophthalmologists to serve 18 million people. He will leave behind his busy practice in the Hendrick Professional Center, his wife, Jill, and four daughters ages 3-11.

He will take with him $75,000 worth of donated medical supplies and a Styrofoam box marked: "Donor Tissue. Keep Refrigerated."

Oddly, the latter does not bring stares from fellow passengers.

"I've never had anybody say anything," Teague said, although he keeps the box containing corneas for transplant with him at all times.

Teague will transplant five corneas and perform any number of 20-minute cataract surgeries during his one-week stay. Most of his work is done in the capital city of Accra at one of the four eye clinics run by Christian Eye Ministry.

On previous trips he has ventured into the African bush to the village of Sunyani, where life and facilities are quite primitive. The clinic in Accra is more up to date, but far from what people in the United States expect. The only air conditioning in the building is in the operating room and temperatures often reach the 90s.

The operating room itself is furnished with two tables separated by a partition with one microscope in the middle so that the visiting doctor can switch from one patient to the other.

"It's almost like an assembly line process," Teague said.

The native Ghanaians are so used to power failures that they bring flashlights with them. More than once, Teague has been glad they did.

"When the power goes off, they open up all the doors and bring in their flashlights," he said. "You can actually do surgery with a flashlight if you have to."

Teague routinely performs 20-25 cataract surgeries per day, working from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Although Teague, and other missionary doctors, treat other eye ailments during their trips, the vast majority are cataract surgeries.

Ghanaians and other Africans have an unusually high rate of cataracts, Teague said, due to poor nutrition, genetics and the environment. Ultra-violet light near the equator is more intense than elsewhere, he said.

The problem is so massive, with so few ophthalmologists to treat it, that many people die either blind or nearly so.

The blessing that comes from performing such "miracles" is what keeps Teague going back. In the United States, most people develop cataracts in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. In Africa, the problem starts in the 40s.

Ophthalmologists here see a lot of elderly patients "who are basically upset because they can't get their drivers license renewed," Teague said.

In Ghana, people will go blind without the doctor's services. Teague has removed bandages from patients who were able to see their children for the first time.

"That's very, very satisfying and really will warm your heart," Teague said.

A native of Oklahoma City, Teague came by his interest in Africa early on. During his youth, Teague's father was an education professor at Kansas State University and went to Africa twice on professional trips.

"He would always come back and bring all these neat little artifacts," Teague said.

When he was in the seventh grade, Teague remembers keeping in touch with his dad by telephone for the entire trip.

"I remember being fascinated that he was halfway around the world, and I could talk to him," Teague said.

Teague's dad was also an ordained Baptist minister in addition to being a professor.

"He would get calls from all over central and western Kansas to do supply preaching, and I would travel with him," Teague said.

Kansas State also provided the opportunity for Teague to associate with missionaries. The Baptist Foreign Missions Board sent missionaries to train through K State's agronomy program so that they could take agriculture advancements to developing countries.

Living in that environment made an impression on the young Teague. He earned a bachelor's degree from Baylor University in 1986 and got his doctor of medicine degree from Texas Tech University in 1990.

After doing an internship at Tech and his ophthalmology residency at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, Teague served a glaucoma fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center in Oklahoma City.

In 1995, Teague moved to Abilene to assume the ophthalmology practice of long-time Abilene physician James T. Walker.

He also took his first two mission trips to Ghana that year, one for two weeks and another for three weeks. He was hooked.

Since then he has performed 400 surgeries and has helped train local people in surgical techniques. His wanderlust is far from satisfied, however, and Teague even speaks of spending three or fourth months at a time in foreign mission work when he retires.

He may even take his family with him in the years to come. But for now, his small daughters will have to wait for their dad to bring home artifacts just as he once did.