A VISIONARY pair of glasses on store shelves represent how Specsavers has its sights set on closing the gap in eye health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
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Specsavers Tamworth has signed on to support the cause - and the large population of Indigenous people living in Tamworth - for the seventh year in a row.
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"It's something I think Specsavers will probably continue to keep doing purely because it does raise such an important message," optometrist Janine Singh said.
"There's a big gap for us to close, to provide high quality, patient centred and culturally safe eye care to Indigenous Australians."
Part of the campaign raises awareness that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are at a higher risk of developing preventable and treatable blindness.
Eye and vision problems are the most common long-term health condition experienced by those communities.
One in three has a vision impairment that is preventable and treatable 90 per cent of the time, estimations suggest.
The money raised will go towards funding an Aboriginal eye health coordinator, an optometrist or orthoptist to head out to rural and remote communities in western NSW.
However, even across the city of Tamworth, Ms Singh sees a lot of preventable eye diseases.
"It's just people aren't educated and they don't know the complications and risks about it," she said.
"So that's kind of our job to step in and teach them about it.
"Specsavers helps in that regard to allow access for everyone from any background to come in and have a bulk-billed eye appointment."
Specsavers Tamworth has donated about $15,000 towards the Fred Hollows Foundation and its associated organisations, and a portion of the profit from this year's glasses will add to the grand total.
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