FOR 10 years Joanna Barton fought tooth and nail to establish a public eye service in Dubbo and yesterday the door finally opened.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The manager of Outback Eye Service said the new service for Dubbo and the region was Commonwealth funded and worked closely with the Western NSW Local Health District.
"For years I wanted to have this service in Dubbo but there's been no room to run it as an outpatient service at the hospital," Mrs Barton said.
The service saw 15 residents on its first day and ran out of a private eye clinic with ophthalmologists working to treat everyone who walked through the doors.
Mrs Barton said the target groups were those who could not afford to see an eye specialist, and Aboriginal people.
An appointment was $364 to see an ophthalmologist and the high cost was due to the expensive medical equipment used.
Thankfully, NSW Health funded most of the equipment to kickstart the public eye service.
She called on the medical services in the city - doctors, Medicare Local, Aboriginal health and optometrists to refer residents to the Bourke Street clinic for the bulk billed service.
Without the referral service, the public clinic would not be able to continue.
"I want 200 people on the waiting list," she said.
The two-day-a-month program supported by the Fred Hollows Foundation had the potential to grow in the future to serve the community weekly.
The plan was to encourage more ophthalmologists on board to make it sustainable.
"My goal is to get more people who have never seen an ophthalmologist to see one," she said.
For more information contact Mrs Barton on 0418 322 705.