“Ophthalmology is high profile. Kids come in and would be blind without glasses if it wasn’t for the clinic. They wouldn’t see. It seems so simple and is something you and I take for granted.”

These are the words of Thomas Minas, an ophthalmologist from Phoenix, Ariz. who volunteers his time at St. Andrew’s Children's Clinic.

Minas has been volunteering at the clinic for the past six months. Often times, his wife accompanies him and helps out in the medical eye unit, which is his office for the day.

According to Minas, volunteering has been fun because he loves it.

“It gives doctors a sense of satisfaction that they’re very good…at diagnosing and treating patients,” Minas said. “It’s just straight forward doctoring. You don’t need to worry about filling out any insurance forms.”

While in medical school in Washington, D.C., Minas worked in eye pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. From there, he decided to enter the field of ophthalmology primarily because of the challenging research that is associated with it.

Fast forward 38 years and you’ll still find Minas practicing medicine and taking time out of his busy schedule to help those is need of medical help.

“Probably, most physicians, if they have the opportunity to do this (volunteer), they’ll do it again,” Minas said. “Most doctors are used to having tools … but realize they can do work without fancy machines. They realize what they can do is better than nothing.”

He began volunteering 32 years ago. In that time, he has gone on medical missions in 10 emerging countries.

Each of those missions has involved him working for about 10 days with the objective of performing and teaching cataract surgery, an operation that involves removing a clouded lens from a patient’s eye and replacing it with an artificial one.

Minas has learned a lot in his many volunteer experiences.

“Doctors are needed around the world,” Minas said. “I've been doing work in emerging countries or low income areas for a long time. It has some influence on my usual practice in Phoenix, and sometimes I am reminded that common mild problems are not very significant in the big picture.”

The same can be said for his experience at the clinic.

In the short hour I observed the medical eye unit, Minas was able to treat three patients and many others were waiting patiently.



Minas and his bilingual nurse, Reyna, provide children with eye exams and then make the diagnosis on how they should be treated. If they need to be fitted for glasses, that happens inside of the church. If a child needs surgery, a separate team sets that up.

Minas finds that to be the most difficult thing with volunteer clinics.

“The only difficult thing … is being certain that adequate follow up treatment can be arranged,” Minas said. “This is sometimes uncertain because of logistics or economic factors.”

The only thing that differs in the realm of volunteering is the types of patients that Minas sees.

According to Minas, the most rewarding thing about volunteering is the satisfaction that goes along with it. He loves the fact that people really benefit from his medical services.

Working at St. Andrew's Children's Clinic allows him to learn new things each time and realize how important his services are.

“These people have the same problems as those who live in Scottsdale or the Catalina Foothills,” Minas said. “It’s neat to see your talents as a physician really needed.”

This passion and determination is what drives Minas to help people each and everyday.