The heart of accessible care: expanding vision services with St. Mary's retinal program
Cathie Evans was sitting in the chapel at St. Mary’s, reflecting on her recent surgery at the hospital’s new Savvas Chamberlain Eye Clinic, when someone shuffled in behind her.
Glancing up, she did a double take as Greta Delonghi, one of the hospital’s chaplains and a fellow parishioner at Cathie’s church, approached.
Cathie didn’t know that Greta worked at St. Mary’s, just as Greta didn’t know Cathie had been a patient.
"What are you doing here?!” they both exclaimed, laughing at the odds of the chance encounter.
For Cathie, seeing a familiar face felt like a blessing in the most literal sense. Weeks before, she had nearly lost her vision.
St. Mary’s saved her sight.
In the blink of an eye
The brown haze in the corner of Cathie’s left eye came on suddenly. When it worsened by the next morning, Cathie called her optometrist.
Suspecting a torn retina, the doctor told Cathie to get to the hospital in London – 90 minutes from her Guelph home – as soon as possible.
But moments later, he called me back and referred me to the eye clinic at St. Mary’s.
- Cathie Evans
Cathie arrived at St. Mary’s within half an hour. Soon, retinal surgeon Dr. Carl Shen was assessing her case and preparing to treat it.
Tests revealed not a retinal tear as Cathie’s optometrist had thought, but a full retinal detachment – a condition that can lead to permanent vision loss.
A quick surgery fixed the issue.
A close eye (clinic)
Cathie is one of hundreds of patients to have had retinal surgery at St. Mary’s since the launch of The Savvas Chamberlain Eye Clinic last fall.
Driven by a $1.5-million donation from The Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation and helped by other donors, the clinic sees thousands of patients each month for diagnostic and sub-specialty eye care.
Nearly 400 retinal surgeries were completed from Sept. 2023 to June 2024, including 69 procedures that were done within 24 hours of the patient’s first assessment by an optometrist or ER department.
Before the clinic launched, patients needing retinal surgery had to travel to London, Hamilton or Toronto – adding a stressful commute while delaying treatment on time-sensitive conditions.
“If you look at the Top 8 largest cities in Ontario, they all had some sort of retinal care, except Waterloo Region,” says Dr. Shen.
...with the Region continually expanding as fast as it is, there was a real need for this program here.
- Dr. Shen
Eye-eye captain
Dr. Shen, hired as St. Mary’s first vitreoretinal surgeon, has been hard at work since last September.
Aside from retinal detachments, he’s also treated retinal tears, hemorrhages in the eye, dislocated lenses, complex cataracts and one case of malignant glaucoma.
And he’s done it all with care, compassion and confidence.
Cathie, who had dealt with vision problems before, worried Dr. Shen’s procedure wouldn’t work. Would she lose her sight for good?
Moments after surgery, her nerves eased as Dr. Shen told her he was pleased with the outcome – simple words that made a significant impact on her emotional state.
“The day began with such trepidation and there I was heading home with the confidence of a doctor who was happy with how things worked out,” Cathie says.
We are beyond fortunate to have this eye clinic in our community.
- Cathie Evans
