A contingent of Australian optical professionals traded the comfort of daily practice-life for the rugged terrain of remote Fijian villages where their dispensing skills were put to the test to change hundreds of lives.
Word of mouth can be a powerful marketing tool, especially in the Pacific islands, as a team of volunteer eyecare professionals found out during a recent outreach project in Fiji.
Twelve members of Optical Dispensers Australia (ODA) travelled to the island nation in July 2024, their suitcases filled with hundreds of donated pre-cut prescription glasses ranging from -6.00 to +6.00, dispensing and screening tools, frames and a range of uncut astigmatic lenses.
The 12 – Ms Lyn Simeon (NSW), Ms Linden McNeill (WA), Ms Allyson Caffell (WA), Ms Nicole Grasso (NSW), Mr Chedy Kalach (NSW), Mr Ryan Magart (VIC), Mr Luke Yong (VIC), Mr Jordan Dyce (TAS), Ms Gladys Mak (WA), Ms April Petrusma (NSW), Ms Rayleen Tamblyn (NSW) and Ms Emma Dyce (TAS) – spent the next four days visiting remote villages and schools to conduct eye tests and give glasses to those needing them.
They linked up with local liaison Mr Sylvester Prasad, a dispensing optician from Opticare – The Eye Centre Fiji, who himself received a Cert IV in Optical Dispensing from the Australasian College of Optical Dispensing (ACOD) in 2023.
So successful were they that the 10 optical dispensers and two optometrists tested more than four times the number of people they had expected to see.
Yong, who wrote a blog about the trip, said the team was supposed to screen about 300 people during its four days.
But that number was passed by the end of day two.
“The ODA Fiji Outreach Project screened approximately 1,300 people and dispensed 407 pairs of glasses,” he said.
“We ran out of pre-cut lenses in some prescriptions and our lens edger broke down, so lenses had to be hand-edged from their 75 mm blanks.”
The failure of one piece of equipment was just one challenge of many, in a country where approximately 40% of the population live below the poverty line.
“Many simply don’t have enough money for their daily essentials like food and electricity, let alone having to pay for eye tests and glasses,” said Yong.
“We realised that there was a real need for healthcare services in Fiji . . . and we were there to provide it – which is what we all signed up for in the first place.”
It meant the volunteers were popular wherever they went.
Days would start early, and often to the sounds of “crowing roosters and barking dogs”.
Two-hour trips in the team’s minivan would often follow, to remote parts of Fiji along the coast or into the island’s interior.
“Our first day took us to Rakiraki Methodist Mission School, a primary school . . . nestled on a hillside with ocean views,” said Yong.
“We were greeted at the school with the smiling faces of Year 1 and 2 primary school kids eager to have their first ever eye tests.”
Many of the children had never had eye tests before.
But the experience was a learning one for the team of volunteers as well.
“For many of the team, this would be our first experience with vision screening and though initially unnerving, our dispensing and in-store experience kicked in and we quickly settled in for the busy day ahead.”
They set up two testing rooms and stations for distance vision, reading vision and colour vision, with an optical dispenser assigned to each station.
If a vision problem was found, an optometrist would perform a refraction and then hand over to the dedicated dispensing room for frame selection and pre-cut glasses. In some cases that meant a cut and fit with an edger that Prasad, the team’s local liaison, had brought along.
Vision was largely very good among the children, but they did pick up multiple cases of hyperopia and astigmatism.
During another trip, to the town of Tavua and its district primary and secondary school, “unbeknownst to us, word of our clinic had quickly spread to the local villages”, said Yong.
“We came back from lunch to a thrall of locals young and old all lined up waiting to have their eyes tested.
“This was not part of the plan, but planned or not, we were ready to jump into action.”
That clinic resulted in 514 vision screenings and the dispensing of almost 200 pairs of glasses.
It would be a similar experience on day three, during the team’s visit to another village in the remote Tavua region.
“Remote and sheltered from outsiders, we travelled through dense bushland, over river crossings and dodged cattle whilst hoping that our vehicles would survive the bumpy off-roading.”
At Nadelei Catholic School they had one large classroom to set up the screening stations and a separate dispensing room.
A power outage meant they needed a village generator to operate the lens edger, frame heater and digital vertometer.
“While testing the kids, cars had been steadily arriving outside the school, some carrying elderly in wheelchairs and others having travelled hours from other villages to visit our mobile clinic.”
That day finished with 210 vision screenings, 74 pairs of glasses dispensed and some fun time with the children, including football and dancing.
“We took advantage of the downtime and immersed ourselves in our surroundings, interacting with the kids and enjoying the contagious laughter that accompanied the running races, arm wrestles and dancing.”
The trip had thrown up many challenges, including one reluctant headmaster at the remote Naidiri Bay Khalsa School, who had to be convinced that correcting the vision of many of his 27 pupils was worth giving up one day’s education.
But Yong recalls that every “hiccup”, including a broken-down van and ute and dealing with ‘Fiji time’, only added to the adventure.
“We looked out for one another and banded together over our shared love of soy-lattes, 90s karaoke and, most importantly, our passion for optics and the privilege to provide a service to the less fortunate and make a difference.”
That effort was greatly appreciated by the people they visited and helped.
“We were humbled by the generosity and appreciation of the Fijian people,” Yong added.
“Team members were invited back to local homes for dinner (which we politely declined), hugs and handshakes were plentiful and the level of gratitude, kindness and hospitality shown made it more than worthwhile.
“The ODA team . . . arrived back in Australia with new friends, full hearts and memories to last a lifetime.”
And quite a number of much lighter suitcases.
NOTE: ODA’s Fiji project was supported by Opticare – The Eye Centre Fiji, Christian Helps Fiji and ODA’s various Australian sponsors, including Hoya Lens Australia, CR Labs, Tokai Optical, Opticare, ProOptics, ZEISS, Hilco Vision, ACOD, Specsavers Launceston and Teachers Eyecare.
More reading
ODA Gala 2024 – highlights from optical dispensing’s night of nights 2024
Optical Dispensers Australia Advisory Board welcomes four industry figures
Optical Dispensers Australia 2023 national conference coverage
