Dr. Allan Jones of the Olds Eyecare Clinic will be departing for Mzuzu, Malawi in about a week-and-a-half where he and a group of three other optometrists will be providing services and providing mentorship to the first five newly-trained optometrists in the country.
While the five recently-graduated optometry students were trained at the local university, there still isn't any place for them – or the students that come behind them – to learn their trade in a teaching clinic. As a result, Jones and a group called Canadian Vision Care took it upon themselves to build the 5,000-square foot clinic so the students would have a place to get their practical training.
Jones said the construction of the clinic started about four months ago and should be operational by next month.
Jones said there is a great need in the area for vision care. In Malawi and the surrounding five countries in Africa, the five newly-graduated students are the only optometrists in the entire region of about 100 million people. Malawi has about 14 million people.
“They're actually going to have some eye care there. Even with these new graduates, they only have one optometrist for every 2.5 million people. They've got a ways to go before they get up to where they should be,” Jones said.
As a comparison, Jones said there is about one optometrist for every 10,000 people in North America.
Because the equipment they will need to practise vision care is so expensive, Jones and the Olds Eyecare Clinic bought all the newly-certified optometrists portable equipment for them to see as many patients as they can.
The students graduated in August but must first practise for one year at the local hospital before they can set up a practice of their own.
Canadian Vision Care is part of a broader group called Optometry Giving Sight. Canadian Vision Care is made up of a group of optometrists from all over Canada that has been providing vision care to poorer regions around the world for the past 31 years. Jones has been a part of the organization for about 20 years and has provided vision care to various regions around the world many times in the past. This will be his first trip to Africa. As part of the trip, Jones and his fellow optometrists will be providing vision care to about 2,000 people. They will be gone for about two months.
“They need the help and we can give it,” he said.
Canadian Vision Care is self-funded through a variety of fundraisers such as golf tournaments and other activities.
