To celebrate the upcoming Orthoptics Awareness Week, Orthoptics Australia is partnering with Insight to publish a five-part feature article series focussing on the role of orthoptists in paediatric eye health.
Spanning 1–5 June, the 2020 Australian awareness campaign will adopt the theme ‘Children’s vision – Seeing the future’. It will also coincide with World Orthoptic Day on 1 June, creating an opportunity to raise awareness of the profession at a national and global level.
This year, Orthoptics Australia and Insight will publish an online article for each day of the five-day campaign. Abridged versions will also appear in the June issue of Insight magazine.
Each article has been written by orthoptists from leading children’s hospitals in each state and will promote orthoptists who provide care in paediatric eye assessments, including expertise in testing visual acuity in children. It will focus on their ability to provide professional advice to paediatric patients and their families.
The articles include the following topics:
Orthoptists and paediatric vision screening by Louise Brennan – a senior paediatric orthoptist at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead for the past 25 years.
Paediatrics and the puzzling picture of genetic eye problems by Lachlan Knight – an orthoptist specialising in paediatrics and genetic eye disease at Flinders Medical Centre and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Tips and tricks for testing children’s vision by Faren Willett – a paediatric orthoptist from Queensland Children’s Hospital.
Keep calm and carry on patching by Holly Brown – an orthoptist at Perth Children’s Hospital and a private ophthalmology clinic in Joondalup.
Screen time and visual development – Advice for parents by Cathy Lewis – the chief orthoptist at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne and a casual lecturer in orthoptics at La Trobe University.
According to Orthoptics Australia, the theme ‘Seeing the future’ aims to amplify the integral and expanding role an orthoptist plays in children’s eye health.
“OAW hopes to highlight the valuable work orthoptists are doing across Australia in children’s eye health and raise awareness to other health professionals, parents and the wider community,” the organisation stated.
“Join us in celebrating and promoting OAW 2020 by following Orthoptics Australia on social media via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and by sharing our featured articles written by fellow orthoptists using the hashtag #OAW2020.”
