The Foureyes Foundation is extremely pleased to announce a partnership with the Eye Institute that will see us open a fourth clinic, our first out of Wellington.
Thanks to the support of the Eye Institute, we are able to open a clinic in Dargaville, 2.5
hours’ drive from Auckland. This means we can offer local children at participating schools the opportunity to have their vision screened and their eyes tested, with free glasses supplied if needed.
“We’re really excited to be able to offer this service to the children of Dargaville and surrounding towns because there is currently no optometrist in Dargaville,” says Foureyes Foundation founder, Ravi Dass. “Our Foundation is all about removing barriers to eye care for Kiwi kids – as well as making sure the service is free, it also means being in those places where access to optometry services is an issue. We’re grateful for the generous support of Eye Institute that allows us to open a clinic here.”
Supporting a new Foureyes Foundation clinic was an opportunity the Eye Institute jumped at.
“We are proud to collaborate with the Foureyes Foundation to help provide eye care to the children of Dargaville. The Eye Institute Community Trust was created to help novel
organisations such as the Foureyes Foundation to improve the quality of eye care for the community of New Zealand so we’re excited to get behind this clinic,” says Shanu Subbiah, specialist eye surgeon at Eye Institute.
The new Foureyes Foundation clinic will be run from a room at the Dargaville Medical
Centre, thanks to the generosity of Dr Scott Davidson and his colleagues.
“For many families in our area, having to travel 1-2 hours to Whangarei for optometric care is a real barrier so it has been exciting to collaborate with the Foureyes Foundation, the Eye Institute, local schools and the Kaipara District Community to address the need for visual care,” says Dr Davidson.
“Providing this service will be particularly life-changing to those children with visual
problems such has myopia/keratoconus and amblyopia — treating issues like these will
enable lifelong gains in development and learning.”
The Dargaville clinic will open November 9, 2020, with Matakohe School being the first in the area to receive vision screening.