Specsavers Goulburn is celebrating 10 years of supporting The Fred Hollows Foundation's work in Australia.
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Specsavers Australia has contributed $4.1 million to the Fred Hollows Foundation in the past 10 years, and Specsavers Goulburn are proud to have been part of it.
The donations have contributed to closing the gap in eye health by ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can access high quality, culturally safe and patient centric eye care, while delivering life changing surgery and treatment to people in remote communities across Australia.
Currently, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are three times more likely to have vision loss or blindness than other Australians.
As part of Specsavers efforts to make Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eyecare more visible, Specsavers and The Fred Hollows Foundation joined forces to launch two limited edition frames, featuring the artwork of contemporary Aboriginal artist and proud Yuin woman, Rheanna Lotter.
The artwork featured on the frames is called 'Unity' and represents the unity of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, past, present and future.
Rheanna said that empowering the Indigenous communities to look after their eye health was also about rebuilding trust.
It's an approach that attracted her to the partnership with Specsavers and The Fred Hollows Foundation, along with the opportunity to use her art to help raise awareness and close the gap in eye health.
Rheanna described the heart of this year's artwork as, "always guided by our Ancestors and our Elders, we come together as one."
"By coming together, we enable the acknowledgement of our past, and move towards a more united future," she said.
Specsavers Goulburn is encouraging locals to come in-store and purchase the limited edition glasses and sunglasses with $25 from each pair sold going to The Fred Hollows Foundation to continue their sight restoring work.
Specsavers is aiming to raise $250,000 through the limited edition frames, which are on sale from 11 November.
Specsavers Goulburn Dispensing Partner, Bernadette Moran said she was grateful the local community for their continued support.
"The 2021 limited edition frames featuring Rheanna Lotter's artwork are just incredible, and we think the community will love them," she said.
"They are just another way that we can raise money for The Foundation and awareness of Indigenous eye health."
Ms Moran said she believed that everyone deserved access to quality eye care.
"We're passionate the work that The Fred Hollows Foundation does to invest in the future of eye care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," she said.
"Although we have made such great progress over the past 10 years, we still have a long way to go.
We want to continue to close the gap and improving eye health services in Indigenous communities for the next 10 years and beyond, and we want the Goulburn community to come with us on this journey."
Blindness and serious eye conditions continue to be prevalent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, with 1 in 3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing some form of vision issue, simply because the health system is not meeting their needs.
Specsavers and The Fred Hollows Foundation are committed to closing the gap in eye health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
The Fred Hollows Foundation CEO Ian Wishart said access to eye care in Australia isn't one-size-fits-all.
"More than 90 per cent of the eye problems that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults suffer from are preventable or treatable," he said.
"If you're Indigenous and live remotely, your access to something as simple as a cataract surgery might be two, three or four years longer than if you are in a higher socio-economic group.
"A wealthier Australian may notice vision loss and go to a private specialist before they lose their ability to drive their car.
"But many Indigenous people can go years before they are screened. By then, they are almost blind - or may have been blind for several years."
You can purchase the limited-edition frames in store at Specsavers Goulburn. Book an appointment by visiting https://www.specsavers.com.au/stores or calling 02 4821 4655.
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