Eye to the Future First Nations Eye Care in Canada and the USA - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Eye to the Future First Nations Eye Care in Canada and the USA - Integrated Primary Health Care -thoughts and lessons for Australia Lisa Penrose @penrose_lisa

The issues • Visual impairment rates in Indigenous Australians 6X non- Indigenous • 94% of this vision impairment is avoidable or treatable • Diabetes- a growing epidemic- diabetic retinopathy causes irreversible vision loss- but it is avoidable- early detection is crucial • Barriers to access specialist eye health services - screening in Primary Health Care @penrose_lisa

Retinal Imaging @penrose_lisa

Canada/USA • Diabetic retinopathy screening utilizing retinal imaging – stereo viewing- centralised “reading centres ” utilizing eHealth • Eye departments in public hospitals with no waitlists due to utilizing “eHealth as part of everyday business” • Referrals to major hospital’s eye departments from remote FN communities have been halved through eHealth images • Real time data collection tools- prevalence and severity of diabetic retinopathy @penrose_lisa

Australia • Federal Government DOH has recently begun rollout of 155 retinal cameras around the country in an effort to screen for diabetic retinopathy in Indigenous Australians (over $6 million allocated) • No systematic eHealth image transfer • No centralized retinal image reading facility • No QC / data collection system • No stereo imaging @penrose_lisa

√ Retinal cameras √ Retinal image acquisition staff training ? eHealth image transfer, specialist “reading hub” ? QC/data collection system @penrose_lisa

@penrose_lisa