Florida Lions Eye Bank

Vince Hughes, Longtime Financial Advisor

The Florida Lions Eye Bank is deeply saddened at the passing of Lion John Vincent Hughes, Sr. Mr. Hughes, 89, of Weston, FL, died October 19, 2006. He was a long time Board Member of the Florida Lions Eye Bank and gave his time and talents to this organization for more than 40 years.

In 1961, Jimmy Nelson, founding Eye Bank President, gathered an industrious group of Lions to help organize a critically needed eye bank. Vince Hughes was among the first to be asked to serve and became involved with organizing and overseeing the eye bank’s investment program. A Certified Public Accountant, Vince was elected a Life Member of the National Institute of CPAs and a Life Member of both the New York and Florida Societies of CPAs and was more than qualified to handle the monumental task of taking care of the financial aspects of the eye bank. Vince Hughes’ dedication and contribution to the Florida Lions Eye Bank will not soon be forgotten.

Mr. Hughes was a son of the late John Owen and Margaret Gallagher Hughes and he is survived by his wife, Rose Ann Gatins Hughes; three daughters, a son, John, and two granddaughters.

Officers
President:	Bill Arthur
Vice-Presidents:
- District 35-A	Richard M. Vidal, PDG
- District 35-D	William Sweeney
- District 35-I	Gordon Hare
- District 35-I	Chuck Carter

Secretary:	Stacey Jones, PDG
Treasurer:	Luis Figueras
Executive Director:	Elizabeth Fout-Caraza

Our Team of Miracle Makers

The Eye Bank is staffed by technical, administrative and support personnel. Volunteers include a Board of Directors representing more than 120 South Florida Lions Clubs. An ophthalmologist serves as volunteer Medical Director. Hospitals, nursing staffs, airline employees, law enforcement agencies and funeral directors are all members of an extraordinary team.

Providing more than just corneas

Increasingly, the Eye Bank is providing more than just corneas to eye patients. Ophthalmic surgeons are also using donor scleral tissue, the white portion of the eye. Since the Eye Bank’s founding, it has also operated a pathology lab that has benefited many patients. More than 56,000 specimen examinations have been provided to surgeons at no charge. By examining eye tissue, the pathology lab investigates tumors, trauma, inflammatory and degenerative conditions, making valuable contributions for the treatment and eventual cure of blinding eye diseases.

History

Founded in 1962, the Eye Bank has always been associated with the University of Miami School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, where it is located (900 NW 17th St., Miami, FL 33136). Its founder and first medical director was Dr. Victor T. Curtin, who led the eye bank’s growth for nearly 40 years. It is part of The University’s Transplant Team, which is capable of retrieving all organs and tissues including heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, bone and skin, along with corneas.

Medical Director
Sander R. Dubovy, M.D.

International Gratis Program

The Florida Lions Eye Bank created an International Gratis Project in 1998 to provide excess eye tissue from eye banks across the U.S. to countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean that are in critical need of surgical quality corneas. Many cultural factors affect donation in these countries, causing a corneal and scleral tissue shortage. After learning that many patients were unable to have sight-saving surgery due to a lack of corneas in these regions, the Florida Lions Eye Bank alerted other eye banks about the need for tissue. The eye bank began to receive excess tissue immediately for shipment to other countries. The Florida Lions Eye Bank assumes all expenses involved with receiving, evaluating, packing and sending the tissue out of the country - a process that involves many staff hours.