Now the election is settled, we can resume our engagement and lobbying with the Federal government. We have developed a good working relationship with the previous ministers affecting our working lives and will continue to engage to bring recognition and support for orthoptists in health care.
As I assume the role of chair of one of the committees at Vision 2020, I am hoping to get more support for children’s vision and in particular universal pre-school screening.
There is an invitation in today’s newsletter particularly for Victorian students, or maybe those working part time, to work at the industry trade fair in July in support of the KeepSight initiative. This trade fair is enormous and previously always held in Sydney. It’s worth registering for free to attend but attending workshops will incur a fee.
We have formed a new CPD committee that has held its first meeting. We are looking at learning management systems for online learning, having more of our face-to-face meetings available online and new offerings across Australia. The committee is also hopeful that orthoptists will consider attending interstate events for those dates and topics that interest them. If you are an interstate visitor, you will be made most welcome. We will continue to offer webinars when possible and keep you up to date through a variety of offerings.
Please let your local representatives or me know if you have topics you would like discussed.
Best wishes
The focus will be on global eye health care at the recently confirmed Congress of the International Orthoptic Association (IOA) to be held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) in June 2024. The IOA Congress - currently considered to be the most important orthoptic meeting in the world, promises to be a catalyst for driving improvements in eye health care across Australia and the Asia Pacific Region. Read more here.
OA Victorian Branch awarded this year's grant to two regional orthoptists, Carmel Harris (Mildura) and Sabitha Rajaeeswaran (Bendigo). We look forward to seeing you both at JSM. If you are a regional or rural Victorian orthoptist, please consider joining the closed Facebook group connecting regional Victorian orthoptists. Currently we have 26 orthoptists from all over Victoria in the group and we want to connect you.
HCC's learning and development covers four main areas:
• Understanding the Health Records Act
• The Code of Conduct for General Health Service Providers
• Managing complaints and tricky situations
• Successful meetings to manage complaints
HCC events should help members clearly understand their responsibilities under the Code of Conduct for General Health Service Providers, the Health Records Act 2001 and will build members’ capacity to handle and manage the complaints.
The attached flyer provides a summary of HCC events for 2019. Further information about events and booking details are available here.
The Alumni Meeting will celebrate its 28th year and organisers hope you can join them at the meeting and dinner. The focus of this year’s meeting is glaucoma and organisers are delighted to welcome Professor Keith Martin as the invited speaker, with updates from the Glaucoma Clinic at the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital. Dr Peter Meagher will be the Guest of Honour. There will also be a 20 year re-union of the 1st year Registrars from 1999.
Date - 25 May 2019
Time - Commencing 8:30am
Venue - Lucy Jones Lecture Theatre, 426 Albert Street, East Melbourne
Event details can be found here.
Learn about services that can support your patients to live more independently and to continue doing the things they love. Experience the latest in adaptive technology, including immersive virtual reality goggles that simulate various eye conditions.
Date - Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Time - 6:00pm to 8:30pm
Venue - The Point Brisbane, 21 Lambert Street, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane
Cost - $45 per person
Catering Canapes and beverages on arrival
For more details, please click here.
This is your all-in-one online communications toolkit and includes resources to get behind our national campaign to help Australians at risk of, or living with a macular disease, to look after their eye care.
For more details, please click here.
Vision 2020 Australia is looking for casual staff to work at the OMEGA 19 event and other select exhibitions on the trade stand in Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmania this year, to work with other Vision 2020 Australia staff in promoting the KeepSight program to optometrists. KeepSight is a new national program aimed at encouraging all people with diabetes to have regular eye examinations, to reduce the prevalence of diabetic eye disease.
This would be a good opportunity for Orthoptics students, interested in earning some extra money for 1-3 days’ work while gaining some experience with a project early in their career that is about the role of orthoptics and optometry in broader chronic disease management. The OMEGA 19 event runs between Friday 19 July and Sunday 21 July, with other eye health exhibitions occurring in August, October and November. In advance of the exhibition, staff participating would be supported with a paid half day induction on KeepSight and their duties at the event.
If interested, please email Danielle Williams at Vision 2020 Australia by COB Wednesday 12 June 2019 telling her a little bit about you, why you are interested, which days you might be available and include a contact phone number.
Brought to you by ODMA and Optometry Victoria, O=MEGA19 is a spectacular new international event developed for the good of the entire industry. O=MEGA19 will replace and be the combination of two major events in the Australian optical industry, ODMA19 and SRC.
Date - 19 July - 21 July 2019
Location - Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
Further details can be found here.
Do you have an idea or a story for including in the OA member eNewsletter? Please forward content, links and any graphics to office@orthoptics.org.au. Do you know anyone who would like to receive the newsletter? Let us know at office@orthoptics.org.au.
The Conference Committee warmly welcomes you to join us for what will be a dynamic and interesting mix of conferencing opportunities at the new, state of the art, International Conference Centre Sydney, from 9 - 11 November 2019. Find out more...
Further information regarding registration for this important event is available here.
Don’t miss your opportunity to be part of the program for the 76th Orthoptics Australia Annual Conference. Abstract can now be submitted for either an oral presentation or a rapid fire (five minute) presentation. Please visit the website for further information regarding how to submit an abstract and for the submission guidelines. Abstract submissions close on 3 July 2019.
An integral part of the conference is the judging of two conference prizes – the Paediatric Orthoptic Award and the Emmie Russell Award. These prestigious awards recognise excellence in conference presenters. Abstract authors who meet the eligibility criteria are encouraged to nominate themselves during the online submission process.
Come and join us on 15 June as we learn about the Guide Dog Puppy journey with a tour of the grounds alongside an ambassador Guide Dog. The morning also includes a presentation from Khoa on the role of an Orthoptist at Guide Dogs Victoria. Morning tea will be provided, and we will be visiting the puppy playground. We look forward to seeing you there! This is a FREE event for OA members.
Date - Saturday, 15 June 2019
Time - 10am - 12:30pm
Venue - Guide Dogs Victoria, 2-6 Chandler Hwy, Kew VIC 3101
Cost - Free for OA members
To find out more and register, click here.
Please click the links below for more information about upcoming OA meetings and events.
For further information and to register for all available OA meetings/events, please go to: ‘Education & CPD’, ‘Event Calendar’.
Orthoptics Australia will celebrate its 75th year in 2019. Plans are already in place to mark this significant milestone in our orthoptic history. Several projects are planned for the celebration, one being to compile a list of ‘Firsts’ – see the draft list here. Please forward any other ideas or corrections to Shayne Brown, 0401 267 511. Also, please contact Shayne if you have any orthoptic memorabilia you don’t know what to do with, don’t throw it out!
The 45th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the IOA is open to all orthoptists who are members of a national association which holds full or association IOA membership or orthoptists who are individual members of the IOA. This year, the AGM will be in Tunis, Tunisia:
Date - Saturday, 22 June 2019
Time - 9:00am - 10:00am (Central European Standard Time [UTC] +1)
Location - Douga Room, Hotel Laico Tunis, Avenue Mohamed V Place des Droits de l'Homme 1080, Tunis, Tunisia
You can click on this link that will take you to the IOA website page containing the 2019 AGM Invitation and Agenda. If you are unable to attend the meeting in person, you can register for the meeting and can view the proceedings live via YouTube.
Save the date! The countdown has started to the 14th IOA Congress in Liverpool, United Kingdom, 20-23 June 2020.
Women & Leadership Australia is administering a national initiative to support the development of female leaders across Australia’s health care sector. The initiative is providing women with grants of between $3,000 and $7,000 to enable participation in a range of leadership development programs.
The scholarship funding is provided with the specific intent of providing powerful and effective development opportunities for health care sector women; however, the funding is strictly limited and must be allocated prior to the end of this financial year.
Expressions of Interest
Find out more and register your interest by completing the Expression of Interest form here prior to 7 June 2019.
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Macular Disease Foundation Australia Research Grants Program |
The next round of Macular Disease Foundation Australia (MDFA) Research Grants will open this year (2019) for research commencing in January 2020. Since its launch in 2011, the MDFA Research Grants Program has supported Australian researchers with funding of almost $3.6m across 18 research projects. Applications will be accepted from 1 March – 2 June 2019, and the successful recipient(s) will be announced on World Sight Day – 10 October 2019.
General Eligibility
Research projects must be related to macular disease; primary Investigator(s) must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and based at an Australian institution; Institutions must be registered as an administering institution with the NHMRC and/or ARC. Instructions and application forms will be available on the MDFA website from 1 March 2019. Further information is available online, see our Facebook page, email research@mdfoundation.com.au or phone 1800 111 709.
The complete Australian Orthoptic Journal 2018 Volume 50 is now available on the OA website. Click here to view.
Need a change? Job vacancies are regularly added to the OA website. See a recently advertised opportunity:
To see all vacancies, go to the OA website, 'Resources', 'Job Vacancies', or click here.
Have you visited the OA's Online Shop recently? We have recently added a new Clinical Essentials Pack to the range of products available - click here to view.
Need information to hand out to patients? OA has four brochures with easy-to-understand information on the following conditions:
Get a pack of 50 individual brochures or buy a bundle of all four. Visit the OA Online Shop to order.
All members have access to the OA online education lectures. There are eight lectures (2 CPD points/lecture) and questions online with more to come. Watch the video, answer the questions and keep a record for your CPD points. OA Members can access these lectures here.
The latest seminar on 16 April was held at the RVEEH with Sandra Staffieri as the guest speaker. She presented an excellent talk on Retinoblastoma - Survivors Beyond the Cradle - Teenagers, Adults and Beyond. The meeting was recorded and is available for viewing along with self-assessment questions to complete to obtain CPD points (AOB activity #20033 pending approval) for OA members only. Please view it here.
If you are a regional or interstate orthoptist, or you were unable to attend the OA VIC Branch July Scientific Meeting 2018, the playlist including 19 presentations is now available for purchase in the OA online shop. Don't forget to login to get the reduced price for members (AOB Accreditation Activity #19890 approved).
Looking for further CPD points? Gain access to 29 OA VIC Branch July Scientific Meeting Presentations from 2014, 2016 and 2017 - a total of 8 hours of viewing. The JSM video playlist is an accredited AOB activity with 2 CPD points per JSM Year (Activity #19339). Go to the OA Online shop. Be sure to log in to gain Member discount. Members can purchase the JSM 2014, 2016 and 2017 package for $20.
All members now have access to the journal club articles and questions online. Each month a new article (2 CPD pts/article) is uploaded to the website. To gain access, login with your username and password, go to membership tab, choose 'My OA Groups' and click on Journal Club. Read the article, answer the questions and keep a record for your CPD points'. Please contact the OA office at office@orthoptics.org.au if you require any assistance accessing the online educational content.