Doctors Give Back Sight with Free Surgeries

Dr. Glenn Cook and Dr. Babak Abedi joined forces this weekend to help nine people by performing free cataract surgery Saturday to help restore sight, according to 

Cook is an ophthalmologist who works for Alvarado Eye Associates in La Mesa. Abedi is an anesthesiologist at Outpatient Surgery Center in Del Mar. The two physicians and their staff came together as part of a new partnership with the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation's Project Access San Diego program to provide specialty health operations to low income individuals in America's Finest City.

Free surgery is one way to give back to the community that has given me so much, Dr. Cook said.

Cataract complications have kept 54-year-old carpenter Pedro Linares from working for the past two years, he said. 

"A couple of years ago I started noticing slight changes in my vision and before I knew it, I could no longer see the lines on the measuring tape and was unable to work," said Linares. “It’s been difficult for me to see my wife carry the financial responsibility of our family. I'm eternally grateful to Dr. Cook and both organizations for the opportunity to restore my vision."