[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 10, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1176-E1177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SOUTHERN EYE BANK

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN COOKSEY

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 10, 1997

  Mr. COOKSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 50th 
anniversary of the Southern Eye Bank of New Orleans, LA, and to 
congratulate this eye-bank on its continued commitment to excellence.
  The Southern Eye Bank was incorporated on June 7, 1947 and opened its 
doors on July 30, 1947. It was founded under the auspices of the Eye 
Bank For Sight Restoration in New York City, which was the first eye 
bank in the United States being founded in 1944 by Dr. Townley Paton. 
Subsequently other eye banks were located in Boston and Chicago. The 
Southern Eye Bank was the first in the South.
  The initial executive committee included Mr. Charles E. Fenner, as 
chairman of the board of trustees; Mr. John Reilly, as treasurer; Mr. 
John Sims, as secretary; Drs. George M. Haik and William B. Clark, as 
chairmen of the Medical Advisory Committee, and Mrs. Orville Ewing, as 
the volunteer executive director.
  In the ensuing middle years Mr. Robert Simpson served as chairman of 
the board of trustees. He and Dr. Clark are credited with being the 
driving force that guided the Southern Eye Bank during its formative 
period.
  This first office was located in the Hutchinson Memorial Building of 
the Tulane Medical School at 1430 Tulane Avenue. Eventually, in 1948 it 
moved to the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. The Southern Eye Bank 
functioned with the cooperation of LSU School of Medicine; the Tulane 
Medical Center, and various local hospitals--Charity, Hotel, Dieu, 
Flint Goodrich, Baptist and Lakeshore.
  The original purposes of Southern Eye Bank were twofold: to secure 
corneas for transplant, and to establish a laboratory in which young 
eye surgeons could be trained to perform corneal grafts. Within the 
first four months of its opening, the Southern Eye Bank had a list of 
3,000 donors. The public was instructed on how to become a donor as 
follows: Sign the donor card and return it to the Eye Bank Office; the 
signature must be witnessed, but need not be notarized; the family of 
the donor must be notified of these intentions; the gift should not be 
part of a will, since the eye must be used immediately before a will 
can be probated.
  The first corneal transplant, performed under its auspices, was at 
the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. The patient was a 69-year-old 
female who had been blind for 7 years. The procedure was deemed a 
success, that is permanent vision was restored.
  Today, the Southern Eye Bank provides approximately 800 corneas for 
transplantation a year.
  Today, over 95 percent of corneal transplants are successful. This 
success rate reflects significant advances in the way donor corneas are 
processed.
  In 1947 the eye had to be removed within 3 hours of time of death; 
the transplant had to be performed within 24 hours of recovery; only 50 
percent of surgeries were deemed successful.
  In 1997 the eye can be removed within 8 hours of the time of death; 
the transplant can be performed up to 14 days after recovery; about 95 
percent of surgeries are successful.
  One of the reasons for the increased rate of success was the ability 
to store corneal tissue in a liquid media so that it could be later 
used under optimal conditions. In the early days of corneal 
transplantation (i.e., in 1947), the patient had to wait (sometimes for 
a long time), for a telephone call to come to the hospital when tissue 
had become available. Then the transplantation was done as an emergency 
at a time when conditions in the operating room might not be optimal. A 
major breakthrough was the development of the M-K media by Drs. Bernard 
E. McCarey, Ph.D. and Herbert E. Kaufman, MD in 1974. Thereafter, 
corneal tissue could be stored for up to 3 days and still be viable. 
This meant that surgery could be done under ideal conditions. Beyond 
that, it was now possible for individual eye banks to be clearinghouses 
for distributing tissue to other eye banks throughout the country. This

[[Page E1177]]

was a major breakthrough. Newer storage media have been developed, but 
the introduction of the M-K media made it possible for the concept of 
eye banking to attain the next level.


                         the need for eye banks

  Over forty thousand Americans, and hundreds of thousands of others 
around the world suffer from corneal blindness each year. This visual 
loss which compromises their quality of life may result from cogenital 
corneal disease, infection, trauma, chemical burns, or corneal 
swelling.
  Fortunately, through the medical miracle of corneal transplantation, 
sight restoration is possible. Since there is no substitute for human 
tissue, the transplant process depends on the priceless gift of corneal 
donation from one human to the next. The mission of Southern Eye Bank 
is to safely transfer corneas from the donor to the recipient.
  Transplants bring light into the eyes of an infant only a few days 
old, and the great-grandfather in his eighties, and all those in 
between.
  Donor ocular tissue is used for corneal transplant surgery and 
reconstructive ophthalmic surgery, and for research to find cures to 
diseases which cause blindness or visual deterioration. The Southern 
Eye Bank first meets the needs of those in the local community waiting 
for a corneal donor, and then provides other eye banks across the 
country with donor corneas for transplantation.
  Today, the Southern Eye Bank provides safe, quality corneas for 
transplantation, research, and education. This New Orleans medical 
landmark has been saving vision for the last 50 years, and will 
continue to do so.