JulEYE: look into your own eyes

Through my first 18 months of uni, I had a conspiracy theory that the lecturers made the writing in their PowerPoint too small, so that students would be forced to sit near the front of the auditorium to read lecture notes. When I finally had my eyes tested and took home my new frames, I was shocked to discover just how clear everything was when I wore them. I hadn't known it to be any other way- I assumed shop signs were blurry unless you were three feet away, and that road signs were too small so you'd slow down the car as you approached them. All along, I had just needed to get my eyes checked! 

JulEYE is a campaign headed up by the RANZCO Eye Foundation to remind us all to get our eyes checked every two years. RANZCO represents more than 890 medical eye specialists in Australia and New Zealand who provide services to more than 200,000 patients each year and seeds funding to research the major causes of blindness and also to fund sustainable eye care programs in disadvantaged communities both in Australia and internationally.


The JulEYE campaign is also supported by Allergan, Device Technologies, Bayer Australia and Novartis Australia. Additional major support for the RANZCO Eye Foundation comes from Pfizer and Alcon.

This JulEYE, RANZCO is calling for a national eye screening program to be put in place especially for pre-school children. A national program could detect problem eye sight earlier and prevent long term sight issues for many children. Imagine the experience of a child who is sitting in class, trying to get along while straining to see the board! Now imagine how much richer their education could be following one eye test! The difference a program such of this could make, particularly to disadvantaged communities, is HUGE!! 


To find out where you can be tested, or to donate to The RANZCO Eye Foundation and support eye health research and sustainable development projects, visit RANZCO's website or to join the conversation head to: RANZCO's Facebook page.

When's the last time you had your eyes checked?