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An orthoptist at Sheffield Children’s has plans to develop an eye-catching scheme after donating 40 pairs of glasses to help children and adults when visiting a local clinic in Sri Lanka.
Julia Ennis, Head Orthoptist at Sheffield Children’s, had been planning to visit Sri Lanka for a long time, but her plans were scuppered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that travel restrictions have been lifted Julia thought it was the perfect time to put her plan into action.
She said: “When I was reading trip notes I noticed that the travel company that I was travelling with had worked with charities and donated glasses in the past. I got in contact with them to see whether I could get involved. However, I was told that their contact had dried up and they weren’t doing it anymore. So, I thought that I could do something myself!”
Through her job Julia understands how important access to basic eyecare is for children and young people, not only in our Sheffield Children’s community, but across the world. After some successful networking, a colleague was able to put Julia in contact with an orthoptist in Sri Lanka, who she visited as part of her trip.
Julia said: “I wanted to make sure that we were donating the right equipment and that we didn’t create unnecessary waste. Being environmentally friendly was a very important consideration for me on this trip. When I talked to my contact in Sri Lanka, she had been asked to do a number of clinics in smaller villages so had some equipment needs. We were able to organise a meeting that was just 15 minutes away from the hotel in which I was staying, and that’s where I donated it all.
“For children, vision continues to develop until you are seven or eight years old. If a child needs glasses at this time but does not have access to them, the brain will never be able to make the connections needed for strong eyesight. In this country we’re really striving to make sure that children have access to glasses in this way. For example, children in the UK get a vision screening test when they start school to pick up amblyopia, a condition characterised by one eye being unable to see clearly.”
To make sure that the equipment needs of the Sri Lankan clinic were met Julia knew that she needed to extend her search beyond Sheffield Children’s. She said: “Initially, we did a collection across Sheffield Children’s. Then I got in contact with my own optometrist and heads of department from trusts across South Yorkshire and received some more donations. They all came together and even sent across some equipment too. I also donated other things, like some vision tests and Fresnel prisms, thin prisms which can alleviate double vision when put on glasses.”
Julia’s donations in Sri Lanka have been well-received so far, with children and young people now having access to a number of eyecare essentials. Julia said: “The day after I donated, my contact sent photos of children already benefitting from the glasses, which really impacted me. It was a really small thing comparatively that we’ve done but it made a huge difference to them.”
Julia hopes that her idea will continue to be used by travellers visiting Sri Lanka in future. She said: “I have been working with them and the Eye Foundation in Kandy since my return and they are looking to support the initiative going forward. We’re hoping that this programme could bring between 20 and 50 pairs of glasses a month in these areas, including sunglasses and magnifiers for patients with albinism or other visual impairments.
“A couple of pairs of glasses are easy to put in your luggage. You don’t have to make a huge change, but collectively when we all come together and make a tiny change it can make a huge difference. Globally that can ripple out and make a big difference.”
Julia has worked at Sheffield Children’s for 35 years and has been the head of our Ophthalmology department since 2005. In that time, she has overseen significant growth in her team. She said: “We are able to run various tests on non-verbal infants and young children and diagnose various conditions. At Sheffield Children’s our orthoptic team are also specialists in looking at eye movements and squints, where one eye is aligned differently and can be caused by a need for glasses amongst other conditions. We also do pre-operative and post-operative measurements when the ophthalmologists operate on misalignment. Our team performs a lot of crucial functions around the Trust and we’re proud to contribute to making Sheffield Children’s such a special place.”
We’d like to thank Julia for speaking to us, and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any new developments in this initiative.
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