Celebrating a 70-years-young optics association

January 31, 2023 Susanne Bradley

The Association of Dispensing Opticians New Zealand (ADONZ) annual conference and 70^th birthday bash delivered on all fronts: learning in spades, networking opportunities, a busy trade floor and lots of fun!

 

Hosted at Trinity Wharf in Tauranga, the conference was ADONZ’s second-biggest ever, with nearly 150 optical dispensers in attendance – those hailing from Auckland and Hamilton being especially delighted to catch up following 2021’s Covid restrictions.

 

ADONZ president and cheerleader for the day Angela Mitchell surrounded by past presidents cutting the birthday cake

 

The insightful and often entertaining sessions covered sustainability, ethical behaviour, colour vision, presbyopia, low-vision aids, ocular emergencies and much more. One talk which stayed with me was past-ADONZ president Andrew Judd’s sobering story about his journey as a “recovering racist”. You could have heard a pin drop when he spoke about his experience in local politics, having been elected as New Plymouth mayor in 2013. Judd said his first experience of a local marae clashed with how he was brought up and his worldview. Owning his racist thoughts, Judd said his life changed and he embarked on a mission to promote Māori council representation. He went from hero to zero, he said, sharing how he got spat on while walking the streets of New Plymouth. There are so many degrees to racism, Judd said, challenging the audience to take a hard look in the mirror. “Cultural competence for health professionals shouldn’t just be a tick-box exercise. We need to assess what this really means in your practice. We can make a conscious decision to do what’s right or look away.”

 

The International Opticians’ Association president Fiona Anderson spoke about going green and the impact the optical industry has on the environment. Admitting this wasn’t her typical topic, she said her research for the talk revealed disturbing stats, including the two billion single-use frames bags the industry produces every year. “We all need to do our bit to become more sustainable practices,” she said, recommending opticians look at The Association of British Dispensing Opticians’ sustainability self-assessment tool* as a starting point.

 

           

(Left) Donald Crichton and Fiona Anderson; (centre) Lucie Single, Courtney Chellew and Samantha Fleming; (right) Jacquie Ellis

and Missy King-Turner

 

Lifestyle changes

 

Richard Couch, Specsavers’ head of ophthalmic lenses and dispensing advancement, covered wearer acceptance and the changes in visual requirements resulting from the growth in device use. Discussing adaptation and progressive-lens wearers, Couch quoted a study which found 81% of those who were ‘not fully satisfied’ did not return to the practice, while 100% of those who did return said they were treated and found acceptable solutions. Ensuring quality of vision is critical, since dissatisfaction is likely to result in people switching provider, Couch said, with 58% of Australian and 54% of New Zealand respondents saying satisfaction with vision quality is likely to impact their next purchase. A greater sophistication of dispensing practices is required to obtain best results, he concluded.

 

Continuing the theme of presbyopia and lifestyle needs, Optical Dispensers Australia’s (ODA) CEO April Petrusma kept everyone on their toes with a clever quiz hidden in her presentation. Presbyopia means ‘old eye’ in Greek, she said, and is often a cause of frustration for patients. Petrusma said this is an opportunity for dispensers who can resolve these issues by applying lifestyle dispensing. ODA’s lifestyle questionnaire covers occupation, work setup, screen time and hobbies in detail, allowing a dispenser to dig deeper to better understand the patient’s needs. Using it can benefit every stage of the journey and offers a personalised experience, said Petrusma, adding it is also useful when a patient is seeing multiple staff members.

 

When spectacles aren’t enough

 

Leanne Sheil, Eschenbach Optik’s agent in Australia, and Vince Godber, low vision and rehab instructor, tackled when spectacles are no longer enough and what dispensers can do in this space. In between entertaining banter with MC Stephen Caunter, Sheil said virtually everyone over 65 needs a little bit of extra light and magnification, so dispensing these tools can help improve visual outcomes. “It sets you apart from the corporates and, with an ageing population, this will become more and more important as time goes by.”

 

While the key task for dispensers is to correct low-vision patients’ refractive error, preferably with single-vision lenses, Godber said they can also contribute to their psychological wellbeing. Controlling glare is also important to maintaining functional vision and can be achieved through blue-light-blocking lenses and glare shields from Blind Low Vision NZ. Godber also recommended a handy free app for low-vision patients, Seeing AI (only available on iPhone**), which reads text aloud when you hover the camera over it. It’s perfect for supermarket shopping, Godber said, leaving us with his favourite quote: “Never lend people money; it gives them amnesia.”

 

Gala galore

 

     

(Left) Vineet Chauhan and Kelly Knight; (right) Best costume winner and runner up: Hoya’s Stuart Whelan and Bradley Dale

 

Celebrating 70 in style, the theme for the gala dinner was the 1950s, the decade the association was born. True to form, there were more dispensers in amazing outfits than we can fit on these pages. Kudos to all for effort! Following drinks sponsored by ILS and a very enjoyable dinner, guests were treated to a delicious birthday cake cut by the attending present and previous ADONZ presidents.

 

     

(Left) Best costume winners, Pink Ladies: Rheannon Teao, Anastasia Brown and Hannah Spencer; (right) Andrew Sare and Glenn Bolton

 

Finishing off on a high, dispensing stalwarts Steve Stenersen and Mike Firmston received a standing ovation and were honoured with the Directors Award (formerly the Robert Maher Award) in recognition of their dedication and service to the industry, while former ADONZ presidents Judd and Vanessa Cummings were awarded ADONZ life memberships.

 

ADONZ board update

 

At the 2022 ADONZ annual general meeting Kirsty Pienaar and Jess Welch joined Samantha Fleming and Michelle Burnett on the continuing education committee, while Elise Paulin and Matt Harp remain on the OptiBlocks education committee. The ADONZ executive board of Angela Mitchell (president), Courtney Chellew (vice-president), Missy King-Turner (secretary/treasurer) and executive councillors Laura McLaren, Alastair Stewart and Russell Woodland remains unchanged.

 

After such a great conference, I think we're all looking forward to the next one in Nelson, from 24-26 November this year. See you there!

 

* www.abdo.org.uk/sustainability-questionnaire; and www.nzoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/reframing-sustainable-optometry/

 

**Ed’s note: Envision AI shares similar features with Seeing AI and is available for Android devices for an annual subscription of US$33.99 (NZ$52.80).

 

 

Pictures courtesy of Chris Mitchell and Susanne Bradley