For years, the Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service has been keeping a close eye on Aboriginal health in Darwin, Australia. Now, thanks to ICEE, there will be an increased focus on eye care and low cost glasses for the health centre’s patients.

The centre now has an eye clinic and dedicated ICEE optometrist, providing eye examinations and affordable glasses to Darwin and its surrounding communities.

ICEE optometrist Anna Morse not only provides eye care to clinic patients, but conducts education programmes for eye care personnel and delivers eye care to rural and remote communities.

“Danila Dilba is a great chance to work alongside Aboriginal Health Workers, to give the greater Darwin Aboriginal community an accessible, culturally suitable, regular eye care clinic,” Anna said.

In the Northern Territory, ICEE provides eye care training to Aboriginal Eye Health Coordinators and Aboriginal Health Workers from rural and remote community health centres, in order to minimise the gap between need and availability. The personnel are vital to ICEE Aboriginal programmes, providing a cultural and logistical link between the community, the optometrist and other health professionals.

“Its not just low cost glasses we provide, it’s a regular service which allows us to detect and monitor eye health in the community”, said Morse. “In some ICEE clinics, like at Anyinginyi Health in Tennant Creek, ICEE optometrists have been seeing patients for a couple of years. They work alongside ICEE educated Aboriginal Eye Health Coordinators from the region and act as a referral service. It means local people with diabetes have access to regular eye examinations which can help control the onset of diabetic retinopathy, a condition that causes vision impairment and, in some cases, blindness,” she added.

In the Northern Territory, the ICEE Aboriginal programme has provided 2100 patients with eye examinations and prescribed 1350 pairs of glasses.