~ Author unknown
All
things considered, 2011 was a good year for CARIOA. The challenges
faced worldwide on economic, political and social fronts, as well as
environmental catastrophes were monumental and the Caribbean was not
immune. Thanks to you all who gave tirelessly of your time, resources and energy that still allowed us to:
..........proudly
host World Council of Optometry President, Professor George Woo in two
of our member countries, Trinidad and Guyana. In depth discussions were
held between Prof. Woo and key Govt. officials in both countries
regarding optometry's rightful place in eye and health care
...the
world paid attention to our colourful and creative World Glaucoma Week
awareness activities and eyes will once again be focused on the
Caribbean from March 7th-12th during the 2012 World Glaucoma Week
.....we
once again collaborated with the UWI School of Optometry to host
successful World Sight Day activities. CARIOA and the TTOA enlisted
support from PAHO and the Minister of Health for a Vision 2020 workshop facilitated by the UWI School of Optometry.
......our
association with the Optometry Schools in both Trinidad and Guyana
continues to flourish. CARIOA will sadly bid adieu to Lecturer and
Optometrist Dr. Sandra Wang Harris as she leaves Trinidad to take up a new position. We
will miss her boundless energy and enthusiasm and thank her for her
role in helping get the School of Optometry off the ground and for
inspiring our students to excellence
...our
members continue to shine on local and international stages....Past
President Nigel St. Rose produced and circulated a Trinidad & Tobago
Optometry Brief meant to present a structured and comprehensive health
argument for use by advocates for the profession throughout the region........along
with the TTOA another successful Continuing Education event was hosted
in Trinidad featuring internationally acclaimed lecturers....St. Lucia's
Dr. Keith Mondesir recently ended a stint as Minister of Health in that
island after initiating and overseeing the successful introduction of
legislation allowing optometrists to treat a wide array of eye
diseases....Dr. Jillia Bird has been named Vice President of the World
Glaucoma Patient Support Group, an association of glaucoma patient
support groups spanning 6 continents
Each New Year is a gift..... a platter full of new energy, new ideas ..... a fresh new page to write on......
Let's
grasp this opportunity firmly with both hands and press on with our
quest to bring Caribbean optometry into the 21st century and help reduce
the blindness in our region.
Dr. Jillia BirdCARIOA President
ANTIGUA GLAUCOMA SUPPORT GROUP PROVIDES EYE CHARTS FOR DISTRICT CLINICS
The
Antigua/Barbuda Glaucoma Support Group is this week wrapping up their
World Sight Day Initiative started in October to outfit all the local
District Clinics with new vision testing charts and to instruct nursing
staff at each location on the proper methods to use the charts in
testing patients' visual acuity. To date, 12 Clinics have received
charts and the remaining clinics should be served shortly. World Sight
Day is an annual day of awareness observed every October to focus global
attention on blindness and visual impairment.
According
to Dr. Jillia Bird, President of the Antigua Glaucoma Support Group; "
Far too many persons are still going blind globally when an estimated
80% of blindness is avoidable. Also 90% of the world's blind persons
live in developing countries such as ours. Partnerships such as ours
this year with the Ministry of Health will go a long way in detecting
visual impairment especially in school-aged children seen at the Clinics
for routine immunization visits, diabetic patients and the elderly. "
Don't Let Glaucoma Darken Your Life
Another
year, another theme: Last year’s theme, "Don’t lose sight of your
family", was borrowed from Glaucoma Australia, which had used it to run
several successful campaigns. To select a suitable theme for 2012, a
poll was made among WGW coordinators, and several ideas came up. The top
3 were then proposed to the vote of the Paris 2011 World Glaucoma
Congress participants, who were asked to cast their ballot in the World
Glaucoma Association booth. The winning theme – by far – was
"Don’t Let Glaucoma Darken Your Life".
The
new theme, with its various possible interpretations, lends itself
admirably to the development of screening and prevention activities, but
equally well to solidarity and support campaigns. Think about it:
Glaucoma can darken the patient’s vision through developing and
expanding scotomas; it can darken the patient’s psychology through
anguish about the future; it can also darken the lives of the patient’s
family through fear about their beloved person’s sight; finally – and
maybe most important – it can create a strong guilt to a glaucoma
patient who has kept the disease secret for whatever reason and learns
that a beloved relative, sibling or child, has lost vision because of
late diagnosis – a strong incentive to push one’s relatives to get
screened!
So, start thinking about ways to build this year’s
activities around this new theme. Unleash your imagination and
creativity. Create artwork to illustrate one or – even better – several
of the above interpretations of the theme. Propose, even if you cannot
implement them yourself, activities that build on the new theme to
encourage Glaucoma Awareness among physicians, patients and authorities.
And, by all means, communicate your ideas to the Worldwide Glaucoma
Community through the wgweek.net website.
Your patients will be grateful to you!
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARWorld Glaucoma Week 2012 (WGW-2012) will take place from March 11 – 17, 2012.
WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR WGW-2012?
- Organize a screening event in your local institute/hospital.
- Give a lecture to a patient support group.
- Participate in radio & TV shows to talk about glaucoma and to answer questions.
- Contact newspapers to publish information about glaucoma.
- To
seek for ideas, click here and find a list of event and media
suggestions. It would be advisable to involve and liaise with your
country’s Glaucoma Society and/or Glaucoma Patient Association in
planning your WGW event.
WANTED: ARTWORK TO ILLUSTRATE WGW-2012 THEME
Please make your own composition (drawing, photograph, montage, or any other graphic artwork) to illustrate this year’s theme: "Don’t let glaucoma darken your life" and send it to us via info@wgweek.net.
(Article courtesy World Glaucoma Patients Association)
