Stunning outback trek supports Indigenous docs

November 22, 2024 Dr Simon Dean

Auckland ophthalmologist Dr Simon Dean has returned from what he described as a thoroughly immersive trek through the Aussie outback to support and fundraise for Indigenous doctors keen to pursue an Australasian ophthalmology career.

 

The Close the Gap in Eye Health fundraising walk was an initiative of the Australia and New Zealand Eye Foundation (ANZEF), the philanthropic arm of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO). Dr Dean described the trek as being of moderate intensity, taking him through stunning scenery across Australia’s Northern Territory’s Larapinta Trail, starting at Alice Springs and ending at Mount Sonder, one of the territory's highest mountains.

 

 

Standley Chasm

 

A ragtag group of mostly eyecare professionals (ECPs) braved the chilly nights and warm days to clock up 84km, “without injury or being bitten by anything!”, said Dr Dean. “The first night in the desert had us deep in our sleeping bags in our bivvies, but by the last night it was warm enough for us to all sleep under the stars. The Milky Way is just amazing with no city light pollution!”

 

 

Admiring the stars with no light pollution

 

 

Most days the group walked 12–14km, said Dr Dean. “A highlight was getting up one day at 2:30am to make the 8km trek up Mount Sonder for the sunrise,” he said. And if you imagine he must have lost weight, you’d be wrong. “The guides were amazing and cooked dinner each night. We were really well looked after and, despite the long hours walking each day, I still managed to put on a kilo!”

 

 

A celebratory hot chocolate at Mount Sonder summit

 

 

With Dr Dean’s Sydney-based friend Dr Nisha Sachdev (who completed her PhD in New Zealand) leading the charge, he admitted she didn’t have to twist his arm much to persuade him to book time off and join them. “It was a great bunch of people and I’d jump at the chance to do this sort of thing again; it was a fantastic few days and for a good cause – win-win!”

 

Dr Dean said ANZEF is driven by the desire to provide access to excellent eyecare for everyone, regardless of where they live or their cultural or socio‐economic background. It also supports education projects and partnerships to advance eye health equity and access, and prevent avoidable blindness and eye disease in Australian, New Zealand and Asia Pacific communities. Its 2024 walk raised over AU$35,000, mostly via online donations to Canadian specialist provider of charity challenges, Huma Challenge.

 

“Having Aboriginal ophthalmologists at the table brings a new perspective… patients could be like me, they could be my uncle, they could be my cousins,” said Associate Professor Kristopher Rallah‑Baker, Australia’s only Aboriginal ophthalmologist. According to ANZEF, he is currently the only Aboriginal ophthalmologist in all of Australia; to achieve population parity, there should be at least 41. “I look forward to welcoming the second Indigenous ophthalmologist in Australia and hope to see the day when we reach population parity within ophthalmology,” he told prospective trekkers.

 

Dr Simon Dean works at Manukau SuperClinic and privately at Re:Vision, specialising in oculoplastics and anterior segment.