Please donate today so that more families like Carol and Don who urgently need surgery can have their sight restored.
Neither Carol nor Don were sure if they could ever get their sight restored. Carol had spent years waiting and she was sure that Don would too. All the while, Don found himself making mistakes in even the simplest of tasks because of his poor vision. “It’s hard to judge crossing the road. Everything’s hazy. I can’t put a picture to a person’s face until they’re up really close,” he said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 12 times more likely to have untreated cataract than other Australians but are less likely to receive the necessary surgery. This means that so many people are left on waiting lists with their vision worsening, even though cataract can be fixed with a relatively simple 30-minute operation. Those on long waiting lists in remote and under-served communities rely on the kindness and generosity of someone like you, so that they don’t become permanently blind.
Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The Foundation is tackling the cataract backlog by tripling the number of cataract surgeries each year.
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Clementine was just one of those people facing this scenario: she was desperate to help her son, but the village where they live is hours from the nearest hospital. Travelling is really not an option for people in her situation.
Without outreach programs like the ones run by The Fred Hollows Foundation, finding help would have been very difficult. But a community health worker visited the area where Eric lives, and contacted Dr Ciku Mathenge, a leading eye surgeon who has restored sight to thousands of people
In 2008, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were six times more likely to be blind than other Australians. By 2016, that had halved to three times. We are making a difference but there is still much more to do. By working in collaboration with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and the eye health and vision care sector, The Foundation is helping to close the gap.
The Fred Hollows Foundation is committed to supporting high quality and easy-to-access eye health services in regional and remote areas by improving regional eye health infrastructure.
With your support, we can:
Train doctors and eye health workers to address the shortage in remote Australia;
Finally eliminate trachoma;
Improve regional eye health infrastructure to provide high quality eye care services; and
Strengthen eye heath care in Aboriginal organisations to provide culturally appropriate eye care.
Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, Don and Carol underwent surgery and returned to the hospital the next morning to have their patches removed. Carol was nervous as the patch was lifted and was overcome by emotion once she realised the surgery was a success. Carol, who remembered watching a documentary about Fred Hollows in the 1980s, cried at the memory of his sight-restoring work and is grateful to regain her sight. “I’ll say it for the rest of my life – thanks Fred Hollows.” Carol and Don’s younger brother also suffers from vision loss and is still waiting for surgery. Fixing his sight is their next priority.
In the late 1970s, Professor Fred Hollows saw for himself the appalling disparities in eye health between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. He was determined to change this and began fighting for social justice for Australia’s First Nations Peoples so they could exercise their right to good sight. When Fred began his work, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were 10 times more likely to be blind than other Australians. Over the past decades, the difference in rates of blindness among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has halved – from six times the rate of other Australians in 2008, to three times in 2016. Compassionate Australians like you have helped make it possible for The Foundation to continue our Indigenous Australia Program and restore sight in some of the most remote parts of Australia. But the job is not yet done. With your support, in 2021 The Fred Hollows Foundation was able to:
Screen 9,148 people remote and underserviced communities
Provide 1,075 eye operations and treatments
Perform 161 cataract operations
Distribute 1,715 pairs of glasses
Provide 890 diabetic retinopathy treatments
Train 13 people including 1 surgeon and 12 clinic support staff
Educate 728 school children and community members in eye health
Fred once said, “You have to get people involved, you have to mobilise them, you have got to make the health system part of them.” He knew that the only way to deliver eye health services in Aboriginal communities was to have community members at the heart of that work. To close the gap in eye health and achieve the lasting change we seek, The Foundation knows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must lead the design and delivery of services. It’s in the DNA of The Foundation and it’s a key reason why our programming is delivering results.
Please donate today to restore sight...