He could have been a lawyer but chose to follow his father into the medical profession, a fortunate decision for the field of ophthalmology and for needy patients here and overseas. Isle medical association
honors selfless doctorDr. Jorge Camara is credited for
blending charity and medicineBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comIf there were more people like Dr. Jorge G. Camara -- surgeon, researcher, teacher and volunteer -- the world would be a better place to live, said Dr. Ramon Sy, Aloha Medical Mission president.
Camara recently received the Hawaii Medical Association's Physician of the Year Award for 2001 for outstanding community service.
Dr. Gerald J. McKenna, medical association president, said physicians routinely help the needy, often without notice.
"We feel it is important to shine some light on physicians who are especially deserving of recognition."
Dr. David Randell, Hawaii Ophthalmological Association president, and Dr. Anthony Martyak, association member, nominated Camara for the honor.
"He's a very innovative, outstanding ophthalmologist and a very outstanding humanitarian," Randell said, adding that he is "proud to call him a colleague."
"It was really a true surprise," said Camara, who thought he was going to the HMA annual meeting on Kauai to represent either the medical mission or the ophthalmological society.
Nationally known for pioneering surgical procedures in ophthalmology, Camara has received many awards, including one last year from the president of the Philippines.
Camara is vice president of the Aloha Medical Mission and has been one of its greatest advocates and participants since volunteering in 1987. He has been to many countries on missions to treat poor people with no access to medical care.
"He's been going back again and again, and getting other people to join us," Sy said. "He went to the American Academy of Ophthalmology to tell them about our good work, and we have been getting a lot of good volunteers from all over the United States. Jorge is responsible for that. He's incredible."
Camara was the first to use long-distance telemedicine to perform eye surgery in Hawaii in 1999, guiding an operation by a surgeon on the Big Island.
He was also first to use a computer-image guiding machine, called InstaTrak, to repair a fractured eye socket and nerve damage.
Among other achievements, he developed a diagnostic test and laser surgery to correct blocked tear ducts and a technique using radio frequency to remove a fleshy growth on the cornea.
He also was elected president of the Association of Philippine Ophthalmologists in America and received the organization's Outstanding Teacher Award.
Camara is an associate professor at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine and heads the St. Francis Medical Center's Division of Ophthalmology.
He brings an ophthalmologist here from the Philippines to work with him every six months.
"When they go back -- 15 or 20 of them so far -- that's an asset for the country, and these people will help their own people," Sy said.
Camara assists the Bayanihan Clinic Without Walls, which provides care to new, unemployed immigrants, and he is a volunteer for the National Eye Care Project, which treats uninsured senior citizens.
Camara said his volunteer work is rewarding because of "the satisfaction of using my knowledge as a physician" to help people in need.
Camara attributes his accomplishments to the love and support of his family, including wife Binky, son Augusto and his parents, brothers and sisters.
He is the oldest of 12 children in a family including four physicians, an orthodontist and a chiropractor.
His father, Augusto, a cardiologist in the Philippines, took him on rounds every Sunday at Makati Medical Center when he was a child, telling people his son was going to be a doctor.
But Camara was headed toward a law degree until switching in his third year to medicine.
"I may have made a good lawyer, but I am happy that I did become a doctor," he said, adding that he tries "to live up to my dad ... my idol as a doctor."