Outreach work is an important characteristic of many independent optometry practices across Australia and is something George & Matilda Eyecare supports when negotiating with practices to join its network.
Dr Jelle de Bock counts himself among the throng of Australian eyecare professionals willing to leave the comforts of their practice to venture into far-flung communities so patients don’t have to travel far for their eyecare.
It’s a unique feature of the Australian ophthalmic landscape afflicted by the oft-quoted “tyranny of distance”, with outreach work proving an important lifeline for regional and remote patients to keep on top of their eye health and vision needs.
Every eight weeks, de Bock packs his frames and testing equipment at Fleurieu Optometrists in Normanville, a George & Matilda Eyecare (G&M) practice located on the Fleurieu Peninsula south of Adelaide, and heads across the channel to Kangaroo Island, population about 5000, with his wife Luanne, an optical dispenser.
There, they spend the week seeing patients. With another provider visiting “sporadically”, they’re the only ones offering true continuity of care on the island. There’s also a visiting ophthalmologist, but no extensive diagnostics or surgeries are performed locally.
“We now go eight whole-weeks of the year to Kangaroo Island. We go across on a Sunday and set up, test Monday through Friday and come back Friday nights and we’re always fully booked,” de Bock says.
With therapeutic-endorsement, he can prescribe all optometry-endorsed scheduled medications for the eye. He looks to provide all-round care for patients on the island whether that be glaucoma drops, uveitis treatment, foreign body removals, plus many other ocular conditions.
“I will refer to the visiting ophthalmologist when required and refer to ophthalmologists back in Adelaide when we need to. But otherwise I will treat them there so that they do not have to go to and from the island; this is the most fulfilling part about practising regionally for me.”
Maintaining his Kangaroo Island service was a non-negotiable for de Bock when deciding their independent practice at the time, Fleurieu Eye-Care, which they started in 2004, was a good fit for G&M five years ago.
It’s the same for many other G&M optometrists in the network who provide outreach services in areas such as King Island and Queenstown in Tasmania. One practice, G&M Eyecare for Maroubra Optometrists, visits eight communities in outback New South Wales stretching from Walgett to Bourke.
After running their practice for 15 years as sole operators, de Bock and his wife were tired of the after-hours administrative burden.
“The offer from G&M came across and we were sitting there thinking this is too good to be true. We were already using ZEISS lenses, optomap imaging and suppliers G&M worked with. We were already running the store in the same fashion that G&M wanted and very little needed changing when we came on board,” he says.
“After a year of looking into it, we realised it was the real deal and joined the network in 2019 and have been very happy with the decision.”
He was also buoyed by the support G&M would continue providing for his Kangaroo Island outreach. When he visits the island today, de Bock works out of a full-time leased premises.
They leave a few items on the island such as an old chair and stand and reception equipment, but the retinal camera, phoropter, visual field machine, frames and a newly-acquired OCT are transported to and from the island for each outreach trip.
Support of a network
For de Bock, a passion for regional and remote optometry spawned early in his career.
At the time (1997-2002), he was proving himself as a graduate optometrist at Vision Centre located in and around Adelaide’s CBD. When most people were winding down on a Friday, he’d be sent 1.5 hours south to a branch in Yankalilla to run a clinic for locals.
“I found I was seeing a much broader spectrum of people and conditions. In Adelaide, I was working in Rundle Mall and Marion and in those locations you didn’t get to see the pathology that you saw rurally,” he recalls.
De Bock eventually left and established his own two-day-a-week independent practice, Fleurieu Eye-Care, in Normanville, the neighbouring town to Yankalilla. It’s an hour and a half south of Adelaide’s CBD and is the last major township before jumping on the ferry to Kangaroo Island. With the next closest towns at least 30 minutes away, de Bock quickly realised he’d carved out a niche with a large catchment of around 10,000-15,000 people.
To make ends meet, he also performed locum work for Laubman & Pank which involved outreach clinics to Kangaroo Island.
“But within 12 months, I was working five days a week in my own practice; it was clear this was an area that needed help. I thought this would be a great place to establish a practice and as soon as people realised they didn’t have to travel, then hopefully it’ll make a business for itself – and it did,” he says.
“After still locuming on Kangaroo Island, people there started asking me, ‘why are you doing this work for someone else, why aren’t you doing it for yourself?’. And I thought, ‘yeah, good point’.”
Fleurieu Eye-Care flourished, doing so well that it eventually captured the attention of G&M – and the rest is history.
De Bock is grateful of the support he continues to receive for his Normanville practice and outreach work, especially from Ms Tanya Verrenkamp, G&M’s regional manager for Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
Of the 15 practices within her remit, de Bock’s is the only one providing outreach work.
She says one of G&M’s characteristics is a “patient-first” mentality, hence why the business supported this outreach work.
“They do long days over on Kangaroo Island, working from 8am through to 6pm or sometimes 7pm, depending on how many people need their services,” she says.
“We’ve recently upgraded the systems over there as well, including sourcing a new OCT. That’s about ensuring the best possible examination for patients. Each time they return, in addition to testing, they provide the patients seen on the previous trip with a fully adjusted set of glasses they can wear. There’s an emphasis on doing as much of this face-to-face to ensure patients receive the outcome as hoped for.”
Verrenkamp says having the support of a large network meant it was easy for de Bock to ensure his orders were delivered on time. But having the support of a head office with subject matter experts is also useful when it comes to leasing and other business matters.
“It takes a lot out of Jelle and Luanne because they’re long days, but it’s such rewarding work for them – and they get so much wonderful customer feedback. G&M is always happy to support this important work.”
By land and sea in Tassie
Further south, in Tasmania, conducting clinics on the road with portable retinal cameras and slit lamps is the norm for several G&M-owned practices.
In fact, practices down there providing outreach have specially designed “country packs” so they can safely transport completed specs and contact lenses.
The network operates 11 practices under the Eyelines brand (G&M’s first acquisition back in 2016). Of them, four practices – Burnie, Legana, Kings Meadows and Sorrell – run outreach clinics in several small communities, cycling through the townships every two to six weeks, with clinics often run in leased-out community spaces like hospitals.
“I’ll tell you something, my guys are so proud of their outreach work, they’re always so pumped and passionate about it,” says G&M’s regional manager for Tasmania, Ms Jody Mitchell.
“They don’t mind covering the distance to deliver this eyecare, it’s a major part of what they do, they have an excellent following because of it, and they’ve all got their processes so well down pat.”
Much of the work involves vision care – whether it’s updating scripts, prescribing multifocals or recommending contact lenses. They’re also checking their eye health, with diabetes front of mind. The optometrists are pushed to their scope to manage as much as they can themselves. But sometimes an ophthalmology referral is required, with family needing to step in to take the individual to a metro area.
Some of the most impressive outreach work Eyelines does in Tasmania occurs from the Burnie practice’s north-east post where they head across the Bass Strait to King Island.
“There’s really no other way for that community to have their eyes tested, so the team goes across there two-to-three days at a time, while also doing a circuit to Queenstown and Rosebury [located more than 100km south of Burnie],” Mitchell says.
The Legana practice also has a unique arrangement. It has a dedicated G&M clinic 40 minutes away in Georgetown.
“We’ so proud of the service they offer there. The patients there aren’t often mobile enough to get to the cities,” Mitchell says.
“It’s such a necessary service for these communities: imagine getting a floater in your eye or you can’t see, plus you can’t drive an hour and a half to go and see an optometrist.
“We can essentially pick up the practice and take it to them – and that’s so satisfying.”
More reading
George & Matilda Eyecare Regional Profile: Rebekah Bryant
George & Matilda Eyecare Regional Profile: Jelle de Bock
George & Matilda Eyecare Regional Profile: Reshma Seth
