Strengthening ties in orthoptics

The 76^th Orthoptics Australia (OA) annual conference was held in Sydney in late 2019 to mark the 75^th anniversary of Orthoptics Australia. Confused? Understandably so. The fact that it was the 76^th conference had many attendees confused; it appeared that one year there were two conferences held, therefore this year was the 76^th and not, as everyone expected, the 75^th.

Themed ‘Reaching out globally, learning locally’, the event was held at the International Convention Centre, Sydney in the stunning location of Darling Harbour. ICC is not just a convention centre, but an exhibition hall and theatre. It is such a large venue that you can quite easily get lost.

The conference followed the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) conference and was held in conjunction with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) conference. OA and RANZCO had reciprocal rights, therefore participants registering for one conference, could attend sessions for the others. The paediatric update lecture on day one was a combined session held between the two groups. The fact that the OA followed the AAPOS conference likely contributed to highest number of attendees the conference has ever seen - a total of 378 (including eight orthoptists from New Zealand).

Mara Giribaldi, the conference convenor, paid special tribute to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People, remarking on the inequity in healthcare during her opening address. The Australian situation can be compared to the inequity in healthcare for Māori in New Zealand.

Next, Matt Formston addressed the room. Matt has macular dystrophy and has been legally blind since the age of five. This has not held him back, however; he is a Paralympian, two times, and current, adaptive surfing world champion, previous world champion and world record holder in tandem cycling and 15 times Australian champion across multiple sports.

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Two New Zealand orthoptists, Nia Stonex and Jay South, were amongst the 66 presenters. Jay presented findings from her PhD study on ‘Aniseikonia, Anisometropia and Amblyopia’, while Nia had a rapid-fire presentation involving an interesting case of ocular neuromyotonia.

There was a wide range of topics, some more related to the Australian way of practice, such as the Australian way of vision screening and disability services provision. It was interesting to see the difference between practice in Australia and New Zealand. Australia currently has approximately 800 working orthoptists, New Zealand only has 29. These are predominantly European trained.

Personally, I am more interested in sessions that relate to clinical practice, rather than research, and I found the case discussions to be enjoyable learning opportunities.

Besides the three days full of learning and information sharing, there was also time to socialise. The conference started with a welcome reception on the Friday night, held at the Australian National Maritime Museum, a short stroll from the conference venue.

On Saturday afternoon, after the OA AGM, the OA Council reception was held with a special invitation for international visitors. This was a good opportunity to strengthen contacts between Australia and New Zealand. A conference dinner was held on Sunday night at the Hyatt Regency to mark the 75^th OA anniversary, themed ‘Diamonds are Forever’. This was a lovely occasion to dress up and let our hair down. A great evening with nice food, Australian wine, swinging music and, to top it off, a delicious Orthoptics Australia 75^th birthday cake.