Specsavers is calling on locals to help improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples eye care

Specsavers Busselton is calling on the local community to help reach its goal of $1 million donations towards The Fred Hollows Foundation this year. Ninety per cent of vision loss experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is treatable or preventable. Thirty-five per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have some form of eye or sight issue, including 13 per cent of children. By purchasing limited edition frames people can help make eye care a lot more accessible. The artwork featured this year on the frames by Martumili Artist Helen Dale Samson is called ‘Puntawarri’, which depicts the diverse flora found in the area in which Helen resides — the site of an important Jukurrpa (Dreaming) story. The amount of $25 from each purchase of the frames will be going towards The Fred Hollows Foundation’s Indigenous Australia Program. “We are incredibly grateful to be able to join forces with Specsavers and First Nations artists like Helen to make eye care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people more accessible,” The Fred Hollows Foundation chair Jane Madden said. During the 12-year partnership donations from local communities have helped the foundation screen more than 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. “We’re proud to support The Foundation’s program partners within Western Australia to help fund important initiatives,” Specsavers Busselton Optometrist partner Hendrik Ackerman said. “Through The Foundation’s partnership with Lions Outback Vision, donations received will help to fund the delivery of vital eye health services to remote and underserviced communities in Western Australia.” Specsavers Busselton have contributed $14,746 though the community program to the total $6m donated by the eye care retailer towards The Foundation’s programs in Australia. The frames will go on sale on June 26.