04/08/2025
Last week, Maddi from our Medowie practice travelled with Optical Dispensers Australia to Fiji to provide vision screening to over 1,000 people and dispense over 700 pairs of glasses through a mobile clinic in schools and villages on the Viti Levu Island.
Fiji is an incredible holiday destination however many people don't realise that it is one of the most underfunded health care systems in the world, where 40% of the population lives below the poverty line.
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"Monday morning, our team of 2 optometrists and 12 optical dispensers travelled to Sathya Sai Primary School where the school students, teachers and people from the local village were eagerly waiting for our arrival.
Each person who attended our mobile eye clinic was initially screened for the near and distance vision and if they did not pass either testing they were seen by our optometrists for a prescription for glasses and further eye health care.
Those who required glasses were dispensed with a pair of pre-cut prescription glasses kindly donated by our incredible sponsors.
Throughout the week, we heard and saw first-hand many stories of people's quality of life instantly changing thanks to their newly prescribed glasses.
One of the many experiences that I will remember for a long time occurred on Day 4 where I was dispensing eyewear for a lovely lady who required glasses for the first time. She was around 60 years old and couldn't see clearly past her hands.
The minute the glasses were on, her smile said everything I needed to hear. She gave me the biggest hug and, in that moment, I realised that this was the whole point.
She had not been able to see clearly in decades.
As the week progressed, more and more people would attend the clinic each day, that by Friday we were getting close to running out glasses!
The week for me, was truly perspective changing. It made me realise that our roles as optical dispensers isn't just to make, repair and fit glasses, it is to change people's quality of life by helping them see, both abroad and back home in Australia."
- Maddi