East Timor Eye Program

NEW Ophthalmologist Position!

etep2011 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:13:08 +0000

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons is looking for a special

Long term Ophthalmologist

for Dili, Timor Leste

Based at the National Eye Centre, Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares in Dili and working closely with in-country staff, your position will involve:

Working closely with the Ophthalmology team in leading ophthalmology services at the National Eye Centre
Supporting district outreach services
Assisting in the management and running of the Eye Departments in the district hospitals
Providing in-country training, mentoring and supervision for East Timorese doctors, nurses and other health personnel
Engaging in surgical audits and conducting public health research
Liaising with and supporting visiting eye teams from Australia
Contributing to the development and implementation of eye treatment protocols and standards of care

Interested?

Send your CV and Cover Letter to RACS today!

You need to:

Be a fully-qualified General Ophthalmologist (Master’s Degree or equivalent from a recognised university);
Be a Fellow of RANZCO or an equivalent international body;
Have confidence in your clinical skills in challenging environments;
Be passionate about working in a developing country; and
Be available long term (at least 12 months).

The remuneration package includes secure accommodation in Timor’s vibrant capital city, as well as access to a vehicle for work purposes.

The Timor Leste Program, managed by the RACS and funded by AusAID, currently employs five full-time clinicians at HNGV and co-ordinates around 16 specialist team visits across Timor Leste per year.

Contact: karen.moss@surgeons.org // +61 3 92767436

To download the position advertisement as pdf, click here: Ophthal Position 2012

April Visit to Maliana

etep2011 — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:39:43 +0000

From April 14 to 21, Dr Mark Ellis, a long-time volunteer ophthalmic surgeon, lead the sixth annual eye visit to Maliana.

Accompanying Dr Ellis were:

Dr Mitchell Lawlor, Ophthalmic surgeon and ETEP Scholarship Fellow
Peter Lewis and Peter Stewart, Optometrists
Tony Tang and Lindy Grieg, Ophthalmic nurses
Madeleiene Ellis and Fiona Lewis, Volunteers

They were supported enthusiastically by:

Alito Soares, Eye Care Nurse
Virgilio (Gil) da Costa Pinto, Outreach coordinator
Nuno, Outreach team manager
Cornelio, Scrub nurse
Domingas (Mika), Vision technician

The team managed to perform 42 operations, the majority of which were cataract extractions with 6/60 vision or less. Peter Lewis and Peter Stewart oversaw the screening of another 347 patients in the eye clinic, with Alito and Gil conducting the tests. 205 spectacles were also prescribed.

Cornelio ably assisted Dr Lawlor (above) in his surgery, scrubbing and setting up the equipment. Dr Ellis noted that Gil could perform very good anaesthetic blocks, having been taught by Dr Andreas Kreis. He also performed A-Scans. Domingas continues to show potential as an eye care nurse.

A trained physiotherapist, Madeleiene Ellis was also able to do some work alongside Maliana physiotherapist Chandra Babo.

The roads posed some serious difficulties on this visit, having deteriorated considerably. The team was forced to “go bush” on several occasions, reports Dr Ellis.

Another worrying development noted by Dr Ellis is the large amount of cases with severe vernal conjunctivitis. The optometrists noted at least 6 cases on the first day alone. Vernal conjunctivitis is a difficult condition to treat, and may be mistaken for trachoma. Dr Moniz, the Medical Director at Maliana Hospital, believes it may be caused by swimming in the local rivers, as allergens had washed down from the mountains.

That aside, it was an all-round successful visit. Dr Ellis was pleased to note the cooperation between the East Timor Eye Program, Fred Hollows and Fo Naroman Timor Leste, which he believes will be of great benefit to Timor Leste.

Vision2020 Feature on Channel 10

etep2011 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 23:53:10 +0000

This Thursday 12 April, Channel 10′s The Circle program featured Vision 2020 Australia.

ETEP is a proud and active member of the Vision 2020 Consortium and is working hard towards eliminating avoidable blindness in Timor Leste.

You can view Vision 2020 on the Circle and familiarise yourself with the initiative and Jessica Gallagher, who has been appointed Vision 2020 Australia’s first Global Ambassador.

Jessica, a gold-medal winning paralympian, will help turn the spotlight on the difference Australian aid work is having and raise awareness of the link between blindness and poverty. Jessica, who is legally blind, is currently training for the London 2012 Olympics, where she will compete in long jump and javelin.

About the Vision 2020 Australia Global Consortium

In partnership with AusAID, Vision 2020 Australia’s Global Consortium is working to eliminate avoidable blindness in the Asia Pacific region. The Global Consortium consists of Vision 2020 Australia and nine leading agencies from across the sector – including the Royal Australasian College of Surgeon’sEast Timor Eye Program.

With funding from AusAID’s $45 million Avoidable Blindness Initiative, the Global Consortium is tackling avoidable blindness on a number of fronts, including training eye nurses and eye doctors, developing systems to collect and utilise eye health data, strengthening eye health infrastructure (construction, renovation and provision of equipment), supporting the government’s blindness prevention committee, and raising awareness of eye health and available services.

For more information, visit the Vision 2020 Website: http://www.vision2020australia.org.au/

ATLASS Ophthalmology Visit – January 2012

etep2011 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:48:26 +0000

The last week of January 2012 saw yet another highly successful ophthalmology visit by Dr Nitin Verma and Dr Kevin Vandeleur. On this occasion, they were joined by Ms Helen Postma, Mrs Elise Crofts, Mr Michael Knipe, Ms Anna Morse, Ms Sophie Koh, Mr Bryn Twocock, Mr Mark Cushway, Mr Nick Starkey and supported by Mrs Anu Verma, Ms Shreya Verma and Mr Phillip Crofts.

A force to be reckoned with!

The emphasis of this visit was on patients who had complications of trauma and cataract surgery in the past, as well as those with glaucoma. The team performed 47 operations, some of them highly complex. It was particularly good to see these procedures carried out together with the resident ophthalmologist, Dr Marcellino Correia, and ETEP Ophthalmologist Dr Andreas Kreis.

One of the major tasks during this visit was the shifting of all ophthalmic services into the new National Eye Centre (NEC). Long overdue – but now completed!

The level of equipment maintenance and availability in the NEC is excellent. Dr Nitin Verma states that of all the Pacific Island programs, the eye program in Timor Leste is one of the best equipped.

Helen Postma reports, “This was my fourth trip to Timor Leste, and I was very impressed with the improvements in infrastructure at the hospital, from when I first went in 2004. It was quite exciting to see the stand-alone National Eye Centre, although it wasn’t yet fully operational when we were there, but we were able to help them with issues of storage and logistics. Also, the fact that the different international and national NGOs who have been providing eye care in the past separately are now working together in the one Centre is a great achievement and really positive for the future.”

Dr Verma also recognised the expansion of the local outreach visits to the districts of Atauro, Same, Losplos and Viqueque as a great achievement, made possible only through the strong co-operation between Fred Hollows Foundation, and the RACS’ East Timor Eye Programme.

Helen, above, with hospital staff and new theatre trolleys, bought especially for the Dili National Hospital. They had been shipped over last year and arrived only a few days before the RACS team. It was a great opportunity to present the new equipment personally!

During the visit, optometrists Anna Morse and Sophie Koh carried out a clinical skills and knowledge assessment workshop for all eye care nurses in Dili and the districts. The aim of the activity was to better understand the eye care nurses’ current skill level and identify any knowledge gaps so that future training plans can be designed appropriately.

Smiles all Around:

Overall, the team had yet another productive and happy week in Timor Leste. Hopefully, there’s many more to come!

Guest Article – Healing the Land of Lost Generations

etep2011 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:39:20 +0000

Photos and Words by Mark Cushway

published March 2012 edition of mivision

This article has been reposted with kind permission from mivision

I’ve just had my first coffee since coming back from East Timor where I was documenting the work of the East Timor Eye Program. It’s amazing how good a coffee tastes after not having one for eight days. The bill for lunch came to AUD$30 – a week’s wage for an eye care nurse in East Timor. Now, there’s a shot of perspective.

Last week was a different story.

It’s 35 degrees and I’m sweltering in the cool of the R ACS office in the Dili National Hospital. Virgilho Da c.Pinto (Gil), one of East Timor’s first eye care nurses, sits opposite me in thick jeans and hasn’t broken a sweat. He cracks up when I ask him why he wears jeans in this energy-sapping heat. He has an infectious smile and laugh. Over lunch we talk about the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

Gil was born into a world where bombs and pistol shots were as familiar as sirens and planes overhead are to us. Only for him, the sound of a plane would have more violent consequences. He’s seen his friends shot in the face and killed at close range. Now in his early 30s, Gil has lost more friends than his years on earth. Aside from the deep scars inside, his only visible reminder of the carnage is a scar from a piece of bomb shrapnel that found its way into his forehead as a baby.

One night, when he was traveling home from college where he was studying to become a nurse, Indonesian soldiers stopped the bus to check for rebel fighters. Those with student papers would be ok. Those without would be taken from the bus and shot. Gil left his papers at home.

He had to think fast. Gil jumped out of the bus window and, with his heart in his mouth, casually walked up to the Indonesian soldiers and started telling jokes. While they were still laughing and backslapping Gil waved them goodbye and jumped back on the leaving bus.

Today, there are more than 30 eye care nurses and technicians in East Timor as a result of the primary care training instituted by the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) as well as Fred Hollows New Zealand (FHNZ) who also developed a Diploma of Eyecare Nursing course for the East Timorese. East Timor Eye Program likewise assist with the long-term training support and mentoring via workshops and training attachments. They’re all laid-back, very enthusiastic and have similar stories to Gil.

When I was asked to document the work of the East Timor Eye Program team, I jumped at the chance. I’ve wanted to join a program like this from the day we launched mivision.

I have a passion for developing countries and have wanted to see the faces of the people we feature in the magazine. I’ve wanted to see those broad toothy grins break out as the bandages are removed. I’ve wanted to help.

I registered my travel details at the Smartraveller website, then baulked when the advice for East Timor popped up: “Exercise a high degree of caution. Pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media about possible new safety or security risks.”

High degree of caution? Security risks? That can’t be good.

As questions of the risk started spinning in my head, my phone rang. It was my brother calling to say goodbye. When I told him about the travel advice, he said: “Funny you should mention that. Did you see the feature on the Balibo Five?”

I put down the phone, remembering that the ‘Balibo Five’ was the name given to a group of Australian television journalists, who were killed on 16 October 1975, while filming Indonesian troop incursions prior to the invasion of East Timor from the border town of Balibo.

Journalists!

IN DILI

When I arrived on the tarmac in Dili Airport, all the fear and foreboding started to lift as a group of us waited to be picked up by newly appointed local ophthalmologist Dr. Andreas Kreis, ProVision optometry team member Micheal Knipe and ophthalmic nurse Helen Postma from R ACS, who have been involved with the program from the early days.

Optometrists Anna Morse and Sophie Koh had been to Dili before and were keen to see how it’s changed; nurse Elise Crofts, who had been to the sub-districts many times before was joined by her husband Phil for the first time. He, like Bryn Twocock, the optical technician from Essilor, and myself, didn’t know what to expect and were very wide eyed.

The next day we were joined by program founder Dr. Nitin Verma, his wife Anu and daughter Shreya, who volunteer most years, as well as medical student Nick Starkey. Then, along came Kev.

‘Kev’, is Dr. Kevin Vandeleur, an ophthalmologist who does a lot of work in developing countries and has been an integral part of the team every year since its inception. He is larger than life, the life of the party, a hard working dedicated surgeon and passionate man who would do anything for anybody.

THE STREETS OF DILI

Driving around the streets of Dili, the capital of East Timor, one of the first things that struck me was how young the people are. With more than 200,000 people (a third of the population up to 2002) wiped out by the Indonesian oppression, approximately 50 per cent of its people today are under 18 years and 45 per cent, under 15.

It’s staggering to think that East Timor is only an hour’s flight from Australia – the Darwin to Dili leg takes less time than flying from Sydney to Melbourne or Brisbane.

East Timor has a subsistence economy and is one of the poorest countries in the world with a nominal GDP of USD$648 (compared to AUD$66,984 for each Australian) and very high unemployment.

After the Indonesian troops withdrew from East Timor, Dr. Nitin Verma was working at the Darwin Hospital. Every day he saw a growing wave of refugees flood into the hospital with dense cataracts. Instead of the problem having to come to him, he decided to go to the problem. And so the East Timor Eye Program (ETEP) was born.

In July 2000, ETEP came about as a response to an appeal from the World Health Organisation to re-establish eye health services in the country soon after it gained independence. Nitin, with a team of ophthalmologists, nurses and optometrists, landed in the war-torn country with the smell of napalm still heavy in the air.

When they first arrived there were no eye services so the team had to start from scratch. They stayed in makeshift accommodation in the hospital wards. There were very few undamaged buildings, little infrastructure and the electricity supply was unreliable. Because there were so few cataracts removed during the time of the occupation, a backlog was created, so the primary focus of the program was on cataract surgery and refractive error correction.

Then, in 2002, the ProVision optometry team joined ETEP to provide primary eye care and then, later, to mentor and support the primary eye care workers. To date, more than 34,000 East Timorese have attended the program’s eye clinics with over 28,300 people receiving spectacles and more than 5,500 undergoing life changing surgical procedures.

Nitin says the success of the program has led to its evolution and as a result, East Timor is slowly becoming more self- sufficient in its ability to provide primary eye care and surgery. That means, “our focus has changed from numbers to quality. When we come in now we’re able to do more complicated procedures”. He said the patients have also become more relaxed about receiving treatment from foreigners.

“Over the last few years the program has matured, particularly with the patients because they don’t have the fear they did before. We have to move to a final end, which is redundancy.”

Nitin and the team are doing this through a range of approaches that together are equipping a local team to achieve long-term sustainability for the country’s eye care services. This is a huge mission in East Timor where fundamentals like sanitation and safe water are major issues.

One of the most important initiatives towards achieving self-sufficiency was to train East Timor’s first Ophthalmologist Dr. Marcelino Correia. Another program was to train hospital based nurses, in India and in country, to become primary eye care workers.

Now steps are being taken to train the first East Timorese degree qualified optometrist. Together, Dr. Correia along with Dr. Andreas Kreis, and the local eye care nurses and technicians are now working from the new National Eye Centre, located next to the Dili Hospital. The Centre was funded by the East Timor Ministry of Health, AusAID, the Fred Hollows Foundation, various companies and individuals, with equipment funded through ETEP by AusAID, ProVision and Optometry Giving Sight. It was opened in July last year by East Timor President and Noble Peace Prize winner Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, the Patron of ETEP (at right).

With several consulting rooms and an operating theatre, more than 50 people a day can be treated in the Centre, but it has taken a number of months to fit-out. Nothing happens quickly in Dili and management skills are thin on the ground. Setting up the Centre to get it functioning was no exception.

One of Bryn Twocock’s main tasks was to get the new clinic up and running. He set up a new optical fitting lab, and with the help of some of the nurses, technicians and locals he was able to organise a team to build what seemed like hundreds of tables, chairs and cabinets.

“Joni, (one of the male technicians) and I tested all the equipment, and to no surprise, not much worked,” Bryn says. “I made an emergency phone call to my brother in the UK who’s an optician. When his phone rang at 3am he must have feared the worst. I needed his expertise as the focimtere was 30 degrees off axis and 1.5 dioptres of prism off centre and I knew he would be the man to talk me through it. Nearly three hours later it was good as new and the lab was almost there.”

One small problem was that there was no water for three days, as apparently 10,000 litres went walkabout overnight. Phil Crofts, who was settling into his role as ‘Jack of Everything’, came up with the goods again and somehow found enough water to get the edgers running.

THE PATIENT PATHWAY

Kev has just completed a vitrectomy to the eye of a patient that had trauma the week before. “The cataract fell backwards onto the retina so we did a vitrectomy to get it out,” he says. “We would never have been able to do that sort of operation 10 years ago. Now we have the time to do more complicated surgeries.”

Kev becomes more enthusiastic when we talk about the impact the program has had in healing, not only the eyes of individual people, but that of the country.

“It’s been exciting over 12 years to see the evolution of the program and the impact it’s had on the people’s health here. It’s incredible. It’s about putting in the pathways. You can see that there is a self- sustaining build-up to the whole thing,” he says.

One of the pathways is that of the patient. In the East Timor Eye Program, I saw one of the great examples of how seamless the patient pathway can be when nurses, optometrists and ophthalmologists work together to provide best patient outcomes. The work is intense and days are frenetic. Each specialist is f lat-out but works side- by-side, as part of a team, doing eye tests and post ops, referring patients, talking with patients and families, training the local nurses and technicians. They couldn’t achieve as much as they do if it wasn’t for the local primary eye care workers who screen locals in the sub-districts before ETEP get there and prepare them for the treatment ahead.

Locals arrive to clinic dressed in their best clothes. Few come by themselves, most arrive with family and may have traveled from the other end of the country. They wait patiently to be seen by the team and to have their eyes tested. Those referred for operations have their procedures explained by the local eye care nurses. Having the nurses do this is so important because many people, both now and in the past, have believed the surgeons were going to remove their whole eye.

To see the faces of these people who are so poor, but so content, appreciate every little thing the team did for them, was humbling.

The day after surgery, when it was time to remove the bandages, they didn’t jump up and down and say “I can see now!”… Their response was subtle. The East Timorese are a quiet and reserved people, whose smiles ripple through their bodies to the corners of their mouths where they break free for only a moment, before recoiling back to position.

In the West cataracts are caught early and are a quick procedure. Here, they are 20 minute miracles, because people who come to the clinic have been walking around blind, in one or both eyes, for years.

As Kev and I chat, Anu Verma comes over and tells him that a couple of local eye care nurses have been scrubbed and are gowned up ready to observe some eye surgery. He’s very keen to show them the theatre and says they can watch the surgeons operate through the teaching arm. The nurses, from Dili and 13 district eye clinics set up by the program, are here for a week’s intensive training by the ProVision optometry team.

INTENSIVE TRAINING

Optometrists Anna and Sophie have been teaching and conducting one-on-one skills and knowledge assessments with all the nurses and technicians, while Bryn has been running seminars to teach them about lens materials and designs. The aim of the training has been to help give a better understanding of current competency levels so that any future training can be delivered to address gaps.

Working with interpreters Anna and Sophie have found the going slow and tough but have been incredibly patient and thorough. Nuno Da Costa, an eye care nurse based in Baucau and the inaugural President of the Ophthalmic Association of Timor Leste, is being asked by Sophie what myopia is. The interpreter translates for Nuno who provides considerable detail in his answer back to the interpreter, who relays the response to Sophie, who nods and places another tick on her chart.

The optoms have been exceptionally busy, also supervising the nurses and technicians at the outpatients’ department, as well as seeing and assessing patients themselves. Sophie was last in East Timor in 2003 as an optometry student. Back then there was no local eye nurse or ophthalmologist.

“I was just so amazed by the change in the country over these short years,” she says. “It’s an immense privilege to chat to and help train these new eye care nurses and work alongside Timor’s first ophthalmologist. I was humbled by their commitment to help their own community.”

Bryn has been traveling between the Dili eye clinics and Fo Naroman Timor-Leste (FNTL), a local NGO dispensing clinic and the Motael Eye Clinic run by Sister Isabel, where he’s provided skills training, mentoring and donated all of his own hand held lens fitting equipment. In running the seminars for the nurses and technicians, he said that while they were all familiar with single vision and most knew bifocals, progressives seemed like a myth that they had only ever heard about.

“Luckily for us, Micheal Knipe was sitting in on the lecture and was wearing a progressive rimless frame,” says Bryn. “We were able to show everyone how to identify the engravings on the lenses and how different materials would be suitable for Micheal’s frame type. Poor Micheal spent the rest of the lecture without his specs.”

“For as long as Dili requires our services I will always be in the front of the queue and if a time comes when they do not require us, I will still be front of the queue.”

WHERE TO NOW

In the future Nitin said there will be increased cooperation between ETEP and Fred Hollows New Zealand.

“During our visit we had a number of meetings to discuss formal glaucoma screening and a singular education curriculum. From now on the National Eye Clinic will take more responsibility with logistics. The aim is that the whole of eye care in East Timor will now come under one roof. This is evolving into a more mature program. Outreach programs will increase into the sub districts from five to 15 visits a year to make greater penetration. We want greater opportunity to get closer to the people,” he said.

It has always been about the people. To come to Dili with ETEP was life-changing. It was a challenging and rewarding experience.

For Bryn, it was far more than setting up equipment and talking about lenses. It was about experiencing a totally different culture “a country so barren but so beautiful – people so poor but so happy,” he said.

“My role was minor compared to those that I now class as friends – surgeons, specialists and optometrists who give the gift of sight every day. For as long as Dili requires our services I will always be in the front of the queue and if a time comes when they do not require us, I will still be front of the queue.”

This sentiment was reflected by each member of the team. For Anna Morse and Sophie Koh, they’re keen to continue working one-on-one with the eye care nurses to get them up to speed, until their role too is redundant. “It’s exciting to think that one day, there won’t be a need for us ‘Malae’ (foreigners) and eye care in Timor Leste will be self- sustainable,” said Sophie.

The dedication and passion the team had for the locals was inspirational. Each specialist was there, not for themselves, but to help others. Even as we were heading off to the airport I heard the girls saying: “there are a couple of people who need to be followed up on Saturday, so who can do it?”

Then they took a breath and remembered that Gil would be there.

Mark Cushway would like to thank Micheal Knipe from ProVision and Clive Miller from Optometry Giving Sight for inviting himto join the East Timor Eye Program this year, and Kate Moss from RACS, for organising the trip. Mark’s visit was funded by mivision.

A shout out to the Sumba Eye Program

etep2011 — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:43:20 +0000

The demand for eye care services in Timor is not only greatly needed in the East, but also in the West, particularly on the island of Sumba. Dr Mark Ellis, ETEP’s team leader to Maliana, is a strong ambassador for the ETEP’s partner program, the Sumba Eye Program.

Sumba is one of the three main islands forming the Nusa Tenggara Timur. The island has a population of over 600,000 and is one of the poorest undeveloped islands in Indonesia with few resources depending on agriculture with poor soil and constant drought.

Since 2008, the Sumba Eye Program has conducted annual eye camps in partnership with the Sumba Foundation, an NGO based in West Sumba funded in the USA and Australia. The volunteer teams consist of two ophthalmologists, three optometrists and two nurses who mainly operate on cataract removal. The aim of the Program is to provide service and education of local health staff. For the future, the Program aims to identify a local Sumbanese eye care nurse and commission a small eye clinic.

During the annual visit to Sumba in July 2011, Rotary produced a short video to give us a small insight into the Program’s work. Please click on the image below to watch it.

No rest for our Maubisse team

etep2011 — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:52:52 +0000

In the first week of August, Dr Ross Littlewood, Dr Phil House, Cheryl Doran, Elise Crofts, John Kingshott and Jan Lovie-Kitchin made their way to Maubisse, a small town 1400m above sea level. This small town is located in the mountains, which some may know as where the climb to the summit of the famous Mt Ramalau begins.

During their week, the team screened over 141 patients and performed 52 cataract removal operations. With Fred Hollows New Zealand’s additional support, the program could transport a greater number of patients to and from Maubisse hospital allowing more patients to be treated who would not be able to access the service otherwise.

The team worked well together and greatly appreciated the local support offered by two well-trained Timorese theatre assistants – Bell and Cornelio – who not only provided excellent theatre skills but allowed the team to ensure our patients were comfortable and reassured in local language during their procedures.

A great week it was!

A Landmark Event

etep2011 — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:48:50 +0000

In July the National Eye Centre in Dili opened and we have become ever closer towards making Timor Leste self sufficient in eye care services by 2015 and eradicating preventable blindness by 2020.

On 28 July 2011, Timor Leste’s President Dr Jose Ramos Horta officially opened Dili’s new national eye centre. Located next to Dili Hospital, the building was funded by Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia and New Zealand, whereas the equipment was been funded through ETEP thanks to AusAID and its generous donors.

The eye centre is comprised of several consulting rooms and an operating theatre, which allows for life changing eye surgery to be performed at any time without affecting the hospital’s busy operation schedules. More than 50 people a day could be treated here.

This was a great milestone for not only the program, but for Timor Leste’s future in eye care services.

Team Oecussi 2011

etep2011 — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:50:50 +0000

Following June’s successful eye visit to Baucau, the Oecussi eye team followed to perform an outstanding 288 consultations and 69 operations. Oecussi is a coastal Timorese territory whose geographical boundaries lie outside of Timor Leste in West Timor, Indonesia. This area can only be reached by a 12 over hour ferry boat or by chartered plane.

The Oecussi team was made up by Dr Bill Glasson, Dr Kevin Vandeleur, Nurse Barbara Anderson, Nurse Wendy McKay, Optometrist Andrew Koch and Optometrist Colin McKenzie. Since 2008, St John Ambulance Australia has also supported this visit and sends representatives to support the eye team and run vital first aid training skills at the hospital and local orphanages.

After years of mentoring and guidance, local eye care staff have grown in their skills base and in their confidence to control and own the pre-screening assessments and consultations prior to the eye team’s arrival. This enables the team members to concentrate their efforts on treating more difficult and complex cases and further developing local staff skills through the job training.

Team leader, Dr Bill Glasson says,

“We have an extremely good team that visit Oecussi. There is a wonderful atmosphere, wonderful camaraderie … all of us ensure fantastic clinical outcomes for the patients, both undergoing surgery, but also those being assess by optometrists and receiving spectacles. I think we should be proud of this service.”

Vocational Training for the blind in Kupang

etep2011 — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:49:06 +0000

Following on from the program’s support for the Teacher Brailler Training in June, Yohana Meluk from Fuan Nabilian facilitated vocational training for the blind children and teenagers from Fuan Nabilan in early July in Kupang, Indonesia.

With this training, Yohana says,

“They begin to believe in themselves, they can have a fairly extensive knowledge about themselves and about the life of a blind person…. They can mingle with fellow blind people with different problems, but they can accept each other and live together in one community. This really opens up horizons of blind children from Fuan Nabilan who still have a narrow insight about their own future prospects.”

These young visually impaired individuals were taught skills in handicrafts and massage therapy, which can become valuable sources of income otherwise inaccessible with their impairment.

Rafia ropes can be easily purchased at a local store and woven into dusters and other handicrafts and become a popular income generation source for blind people in Timor Leste.