Many millions of people around the world have benefitted from the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation’s clinics. EssilorLuxottica provides OneSight leave for the optometrists, retail and field teams to support communities to provide better access to vision care. Australian optometrist PETER GARDNER recalls his own experience helping people in Victoria and how the benefit of that work goes both ways.
It was such an immense privilege to be a team member on the OneSight Victorian regional clinic and I would like to take this opportunity to share my experience and show the work OneSight is doing in our communities in 2024.
My experience may encourage others to take part in future missions, if they have not yet had the chance to do so.
These clinics, supported by the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, have provided permanent access to vision care for 110 million people around the world so far this year, with 5 million spectacles and 2000 sustainable access points provided as well.
Australia, New Zealand and the wider Pacific Region OneSight have helped equip almost 60,000 people with a pair of spectacles, as they are working across multiple countries across the Pacific and have had almost 35 clinics involving 444 volunteers and helpers.
I have been taking part in OneSight clinics for several years, starting with the CrocFest events in the early 2000s, and I was thrilled when I got the news that I had been selected for this year’s Victorian Regional Clinic in June.
But the week turned out to be very different to my previous experiences. Previously I had worked predominantly with kids’ school screenings or in remote communities used to visiting medical practitioners.
My experience at the Victorian clinic was something new, humbling and fulfilling.
Our core team of EssilorLuxottica volunteers comprised five optometrists from Perth (me), Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns, and six staff members from across the business, including some of our senior managers from head office, all led by the awesome Yolanda Roustan, the new clinic manager for OneSight. She is incredibly passionate and just loves her work, and I don’t think the smile left her face the whole week!
The team spent five days travelling to the suburbs of Melbourne, where we worked in conjunction with the Salvation Army, screening visual health and providing glasses to many people.
We travelled to five locations, working in Salvation Army centres, getting up at the crack of dawn and leaving our accommodation by 7am. After grabbing coffee, we set up our clinics to start at 9am and see as many people as possible each day.
The days were busy, and the Salvation Army team did a great job supporting those people who desperately needed care but were unable to afford even a pair of ready-mades.
Our set-up started with reception, where people were greeted and registered.
They were asked to complete a questionnaire so we had a basic history, often helped by Salvation Army volunteers for those who could not speak English or were unable to read or see the form.
“I had a few people I saw who left with huge smiles on their face after I handed them a pair of simple +2.00 readymades and they were able to read again for the first time in years.”
From there they moved on to the vision station where entering visions were recorded. Auto refraction followed, before the patient was handed over to the optometry team for history and symptoms, IOP’s and fundoscopy.
At this point, if ocular health was clear and vision was satisfactory, the patient was discharged. Often patients just needed a pair of readers, which, for them, could improve their quality of life by helping them to fill out an online form or job application.
I had a few people I saw who left with huge smiles on their face after I handed them a pair of simple +2.00 readymades and they were able to read again for the first time in years.
On quite a few occasions we identified patients with high IOP’s, advanced diabetic retinopathy, or visually significant cataracts. While the OneSight clinic is a screening and dispensing clinic and not set up for ophthalmology referrals, where screening identified a condition requiring referral, we were
Optometrist Tiffany Lee, from OPSM Southland in Melbourne, helps a patient during the Victoria OneSight clinic.
able to direct patients to the hospital eye department or provide a referral back to the local OPSM store for follow up and management. This Included one lady with a suspected retinal tear, who was seen at her local store for dilation that afternoon. We provide vision vouchers so that ongoing care within OPSM can be free of charge.
From the eye health station, patients who needed correction were seen at the refraction station. A final script was provided by the optometrist, who then handed the patient over to our dispensing team. For simple scripts we had a selection of three frame styles with a bank of ready cut spheres, which could be clipped into the frame, and the patient could leave with a new pair of glasses.
For higher spheres and cyls, the glasses were ordered to be made up and then collected from the Salvation Army over the following month.
Our 11 team members were supported daily by local optometrists and store staff, and I was incredibly grateful to those people who gave up their day off to help us.
Over the week, we had the best part of a thousand people come through the doors. Of these, 501 patients were refracted, 109 people left with glasses that day, and 377 pairs of glasses were made to order. Forty-seven people were issued with vision vouchers and referred back to a local OPSM practice for follow up and further management.
As is always the case, the week was over all too soon. It was an honour and privilege to work with such an awesome team of professionals who all did such a fantastic job.
I can’t thank the other team members enough for their hard work and dedication over the mission.
Overall, the week was a truly humbling and emotional experience. A big thank you to OneSight for the opportunity.
For more information on Onesight please visit the website: onesight.essilorluxottica.com
More reading
Helping the world see more and be more
OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation expands access to vision care in Townsville
Optometrist opportunities beyond the consulting room at EssilorLuxottica ANZ
