Germaine Joblin and Sachi Rathod were (figuratively and literally) the driving forces behind the VBA in 2024. Credit: UoA

The team behind the Vision Bus Aotearoa (VBA) is seeking new funding to support continued mobile eyecare service delivery to underserved schools, primarily in the South Auckland region.

Funded entirely by philanthropy, the bus has been generously supported by Peter and Rae Fehl, Helen and Barbara Blake, Essilor and the Buchanan Charitable Foundation since 2022, said Associate Professor Joanna Black, deputy head of the School of Optometry and Vision Science (SOVS), University of Auckland. “We are incredibly grateful for the continued support from the Blake family, covering frames plus a dispensing optician, plus Essilor for lenses, but we are now looking for funding to cover the operational costs of the bus: staff, fuel, maintenance, repair of equipment, that sort of thing.”

A/Prof Joanna Black

While a recent grant from Rotary is funding a programme for specialised lenses for myopia control and higher prescriptions, funding has been increasingly difficult to come by recently, said A/Prof Black. “Going forward, we have now developed a very efficient model of working which we will look to sustain with a lot of in-kind support from the university. The VBA being integrated into clinics, and a significant proportion of the part V students’ paediatric training, means we’re only really requiring funding for the direct team on the ground.”

Visiting about 20 schools, the team examines 500–550 pre-screened kids (from a pool of 3,000 primary and intermediate school students) every year. Most are dispensed some form of vision correction, indicating that roughly 20% of children out there fail screening and need glasses, said A/Prof Black. “In the different types of schools we visit, we find this number to be fairly stable.”

They also pick up a range of other issues, including strabismus (3%), keratoconus or suspected keratoconus (2%), allergic eye disease and ocular trauma, particularly through sport, which are mostly referred to Counties Manukau.

“For the younger children, we tend to do a follow-up after six weeks, but otherwise the objective is to link them to community providers, because they're going to need an optometrist right throughout their lives and it's best if that person is close to home,” she said.

A vehicle for awareness

Speaking to the VBA’s role in raising awareness, Emily Benefer, professional teaching fellow and VBA dispensing optician, said the culture change in the schools it visits has been significant. “When we first went to the schools, there was a general culture among the kids, especially the older ones, that they didn't want to wear glasses. But going back to the same schools for two to three years now, we're seeing loads of kids wearing glasses in the playgrounds and in the classrooms – and they're the ones that we've given them one year, maybe even two years, ago. The bus is making those communities more aware of eye health and the importance of getting their eyes checked.”

Three-fold purpose

Essentially there are three pillars to the bus, A/Prof Black said: delivering clinical service to the community; providing a teaching platform for the final-year students to apply their clinical skills under supervision; and the research aspect, contributing to the knowledge of eye conditions in Aotearoa and how eyecare services can be successfully delivered in the community.

“We’re a university, a training provider, so the real point of the Vision Bus is to train our students. It puts them in a new situation and teaches them some resilience and adaptability, while offering them an opportunity to work with young children. That is our purpose, but we're also hoping it raises awareness at the community level within the schools and, by leading with research, to the government level to change policy to increase access to eyecare.”

Looking to the future, A/Prof Black said while it's a challenge for university students to travel outside of Auckland during their normal clinical rotations, VBA is considering partnering with some of the faculty initiatives, such as the Rural Health Interprofessional Programme, which runs through Northland and the Bay of Plenty, as a potential opportunity for students during their externships.

Currently, the VBA provides eyecare services to school children (years 0–13) who have failed the vision screening service delivered by SOVS and require follow-up care. It also provides care for the residents of the Māngere Refugee Centre, visits marae and the occasional event.

This year, VBA welcomed the return of optometrist and professional teaching fellow Veeran Morar to the wheel, while the 2024 crew – fellows Germaine Joblin and Sachi Rathod – are continuing to serve eye health and the community through advocacy work and research, respectively.

For fundraising enquiries, please contact A/Prof Black here.