By: Yvette McDonnell
Eyes of Hope is transforming lives through free mobile optometry clinics for homeless people.
What would life be like to need glasses and not be able to afford them? Or even to need eye surgery and not have access for help?
Visionaries Who Saw the Need
Eyes of Hope bring the gift of sight to the homeless and vulnerable through mobile optometry clinics in the community.
The organisation was pioneered in Sydney’s CBD and is the first of its kind in Australia.
“Eyes of Hope was born from a group of three friends that are optometrists and doctors,” said co-founder Dr Shenouda Girgis.
“Marc’s [Eskander] an optometrist, I’m a medical doctor and Rajeev [Naidu] is an ophthalmology trainee.
“We’ve all had a heart for the homeless and vulnerable, having done international aid work in eye care… and we realised, why don’t we do something in our own backyard and help the homeless and vulnerable in Sydney?”
Their mission is to provide free eye checks and glasses and help people manage issues, such as glaucoma to prevent further blindness.
The goal is to improve their quality of life, access to employment, and ability to manage daily tasks independently.
Flicking the Switch
There is no lack of optometrists willing to provide free eye tests, but the problem lies in accessibility for the homeless communities around Sydney.
“We saw that there was a subsection of patients who would come in and get eye tests but couldn’t afford to get glasses… and just couldn’t have access to the care that they needed in a traditional model.” said Dr Mark.
“So it was a bit of a light bulb moment for all of us that we kind of just realised, hey, there’s a big portion of the population that needs eye care and needs glasses and not just glasses, but needs referrals for surgeries and other treatments and they are not getting that service.”
Equipment Versus a Seat in the Car
The biggest challenge for the trio was adapting an optometry clinic in a room to become portable with equipment that could be transported to different locations and set up within 15 minutes.
Initially, all the equipment was stored in Dr Shenouda’s car.
“Shen’s wife hasn’t had a seat in his car for a while,” quips Mark.
“So we’ve recently been able to receive some funding to have a van that we can store everything in and transport things from location to location.”
Connecting Clients to the Clinics
It is one thing to establish a clinic but another for the homeless to find the service since they are quite dynamic and on the move.
However, Eyes of Hope found a solution.
“We’ve got four community partners in the CBD…. St. Vincent de Paul, Salvos, Oz Harvest and Kirsten Road Centre… and each of those organisations have homeless clients in their database,” said Dr Shenouda.
“We also have community referral partners that are organisations in the periphery that refer patients in through our online booking system.
“And we also have walk-ins that come in… but also people go on our website and they can book slots online as well.”
The Future Looks Bright
Now that they have perfected the pilot, plans are to expand Australia wide.
If you would like more information on how you can make a difference in the life of a homeless or vulnerable person by purchasing a pair of glasses on their behalf, visit eyesofhope.org.au
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Photos supplied and used with permission, background image by CanvaPro