I was really excited to get the opportunity to work with the Lions Outback Vision (LOV) in Western Australia, something I have wanted to do for years. I flew into Perth and, first up, I joined New Zealand trained optometrist Sinead Denny for a trip through the goldfields and wheatfields.
OMG… Perth to Kalgoolrie is a long drive - 593km! The wildflowers along the way were the only points of interest on the flat road, which just has one long waterpipe running alongside it.
We took a retinal camera for diabetic screening in small health clinics, with funding to focus on Aboriginal people, who are three times more likely to have diabetes than non-Aboriginals, and one third of whom have diabetic retinopathy. The patients we saw all had mild to no diabetic retinopathy, however.
Sinead and I enjoyed exploring the area after hours, including the Super Pit goldmine in Kalgoorlie. I can’t believe it’s so large that it can be seen from space!
The next trip took me into the Kimberleys. First stop was Kununurra to work on the LOV truck. It is huge, with a pre-testing room full of equipment, visual fields and OCT where the registrar takes each patient’s history and runs pretests. When a patient first boards the truck, they are greeted by the Aboriginal Health Worker and visual acuity is measured. After pre-tests, the patient has a consultation with an ophthalmologist. If needed, a final room in the truck can be used for laser and avastin injections. Any necessary surgery is carried out at hospitals in the bigger centres. What I really liked was the efficiency of a one stop shop. The LOV truck has its own software that everyone uses and can access. The driver of the truck told me the whole set up was worth A$3million.
