Rand Paul Leaves the Campaign Trail for Surgeries in Haiti

rand-paul-cpac.si_This weekend, while the political world descends on Iowa’s state fairgrounds, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will be fixing cataracts 2000 miles away. As he’s done every summer recess since joining the Senate, Paul’s performing pro bono eye surgery. This year’s mission, run and sponsored by the Moran Eye Center from the University of Utah, will take Paul to Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

“We kind of suggested it,” said Paul in an interview. “There was talk about Haiti being in great need, and it’s fairly close to the United States. Haiti, unfortunately, is famous for a long history of problems” . . .

“You want to go where the need is greatest,” Paul said. “In our country, when you have cataracts, they’re relatively easy to fix. The people we will treat in Haiti — many of them will be completely blind. There’s less medical access there. It’s closer to the equator. There’s more sun, people are outside more, fewer people even have sunglasses. So there’s a lot you can do.”

Paul’s 2014 trip was balanced against a small media frenzy. Multiple media outlets traveled with him, filming his journey and surgeries for profiles of a likely presidential contender. David Bossie of the conservative Citizens United even brought a film crew — complete with aerial drone — to capture the scene. (Read more from “Rand Paul Leaves the Campaign Trail for Surgeries in Haiti” HERE)

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