Vision Centre

Community

At The Vision Centre we like to put something back into the community and never lose sight of the people factor (excuse the pun!). Every patient is important and is treated as such. Some people in our wonderful country, and in the wider world, do not have access to high quality eye care for a number of reasons.

We are involved in a number of initiatives to help people here in Australia, and overseas. Eyesight is such a precious resource (ask yourself which sense you would give up last) and we do what we can to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

Some examples....

Vision Centre Donates Phaco machine to Lions club eye care program in Vietnam.

Vision Centre Day Surgery Ophthalmic theatre nurse, Marianne McCutcheon has worked since 2007 with the Lions Club eye care program in Vietnam. To assist this program the Vision Centre Day Surgery has donated a phaco machine. The phaco machine is used in removal of cataracts through small incisions and will contribute to a higher standard of cataract surgery results in Vietnam.

Moree

Since 1996, Dr. Roger Welch, working with Moree optometrists Ross Cooper and Steven Smith, has provided eye care to the town of Moree, in rural far North West New South Wales.

Moree is the hub of an agricultural area, known for cotton, wheat and other crops, and cattle. Being in a remote location, Moree patients did not have direct access to an eye specialist. 

Over the years, Dr. Welch has personally funded this project.  It has grown with Dr. Andre Theron participating in the project since he joined the Vision Centre Eye Practice.  Dr. Welch performed the first eye surgery in Moree on the Surgical Bus eight years ago; and over the last two years funding through the New South Wales Health Department has allowed eye surgery to be performed at the local Moree Hospital. 

The project is now also supported through the Barwon Division of General Practice, the Rural Doctors Federation, and the Pius X Aboriginal Health Care Corporation. 

Eye surgeons Dr. Welch and Dr. Theron now visit Moree on a monthly rotation staying for 3 days at a time to consult and perform surgery.

Comments, Dr. Welch: "The greatest area of need in the Moree community is the group of uninsured pensioners who had difficulty travelling out of town for eye surgery"

The project is well supported by the community, and certainly by the local Optometrists.

Other

The main charitable activity of Vision Centre's Drs. Welch and Theron is their financial support and personal hard work for the Moree Eye Care Programme.

Other Vision Centre Ophthalmologists support Rural Ophthalmology; the late Dr. Bill Austin founded the eye care programme at Longreach, which continues to this day under the direction of Dr Bill Glasson.  Dr. John Ambler visits Toowoomba.  Dr. Denis Stark visits Longreach and Bilouela.
 
The Vision Centre is a financial supporter of the Prevent Blindness Foundation, chaired by Professor Lawrie Hirst; and donates to the research programmes of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.
 
Dr. Roger Welch supports number of community programmes including The Gold Coast Arts Centre, Queensland Opera, and the Police Youth Citizens Club.