Significant achievements included:
- New project: The Fehls agreed to support work on eye health care particularly for children, allocating ~$500,000 to Jo Black and Andrew Collins to support an implementation research project to design a pathway from school-based vision screening through to receiving appropriate and timely treatment.
- RHIP: A total of eight BOptom students attended the Rural Health Interprofessional Programme (RHIP), in which students from a range of health professions live together and undertake placements for five weeks in a rural location. This is a significant increase from the usual 1-2 Optometry students who engage with the programme; the logistics of arranging suitable practicum sites, timing, rearranging timetables and tests etc has been challenging. Sincere thanks to all those involved in finding ways to enable the students to participate – particularly staff members Associate Dean (Rural Health) Kyle Eggleton, Jaymie Rogers, Wanda Lam, Priya Vinod, and John McLennan, and the mentors who generously made their practices available:
In support of the Rawene-based programme:
- Kerikeri Optometrists
- Specsavers Kerikeri
- Waipapa Eyecare
In support of the Whakatane-based programme
- Whakatane Optometrists by OPSM
- Specsavers Whakatane
- MH Rogers Optometrists
- OPSM Bayfair
- Greerton Optometrists
- Paterson Burn Tauranga
- Bay Eyecare
- Vision Bus Aotearoa: The bus was fully booked to visit schools in the Auckland region for semester 1, and semester 2 bookings are well underway. The bus has also been a highlight of promotional events aimed at showcasing optometry as a study option and career path to Māori and Pacific Island high school students in semester 1, and will be part of the Mānawa Mai (Open Day) event on Grafton Campus at the end of August. Fundraising opportunities for 2026 are being investigated, with a view to keeping the bus operating and spectacles funded. Thanks go to Rotary Auckland, who visited in April and agreed to donate to the George Cox Spectacle Fund.