Teacher runs towards an end to preventable blindness

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Teacher runs towards an end to preventable blindness

As winter draws to a close, a regional Victorian specialist teacher is narrowing in on her goal to run 100km to help end preventable blindness.

Georgie Green is one of more than 5600 people who have laced up for Fred’s Big Run, a virtual event led by the Fred Hollows Foundation to help deliver eye care to those who need it.

Participants are still calling on sponsors as they run, swim or roll to reach a target distance over the month of August.

Ms Green, 45, was inspired by a visually-impaired student of hers to join the cause.

“Looking at my student’s battle and how hard it is, I just thought, this is really important,” she told AAP.

“Nine out of 10 people who are ****** don’t need to be.”

Ms Green said she’d fallen out of practice since being a keen middle-distance and steeplechase runner in her university days and was recovering from plantar fasciitis, a painful inflammation in the heel.

“My first run – and I had to stop every 200 or 300 metres – was only 1.7km, and my longest run was about 6.4km,” she said.

“I’m really happy that I’m starting to get fit again.”

So far she has raised over $1000, contributing to the more than $950,000 raised nationwide.

“Next year, I’d like to do this again and smash the whole 150km and maybe set myself a really big fundraising goal,” Ms Green said.

The Fred Hollows Foundation trains local doctors to deliver eye care services in 25 countries and has restored sight to more than three million people worldwide.

It focuses on treating cataracts – the leading cause of blindness worldwide – as well as trachoma, the leading cause of infectious blindness, and diabetic retinopathy.

The foundation also works in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Aboriginal people are three-times more likely to be ****** than other Australians.

It takes its name from founder Fred Hollows, the New Zealand-*********** ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to restoring sight to the needlessly ******.

Bilawara Lee, known as Aunty B and an avid reader and senior elder of the Larrakia nation in the Northern Territory, recently had cataract surgeries on both eyes after a five-year wait.

“The waiting list is horrendous,” Aunty B said.

“COVID contributed to that.”

The Fred Hollows Foundation and partner Deadly Enterprises funded the operation in greater Darwin, where about 38 per cent of demand for the procedure is being met.

Associate Professor Kris Rallah-Baker, who performed the surgeries, said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people faced additional barriers to accessing timely treatment for eye conditions.

“One of the big barriers is ***** – ***** of the system, ***** of the unknown,” Dr Rallah-Baker said.

“Depending on where people are, the issue of cultural safety can then play into that if they’re walking into a space where they don’t feel welcomed and understood.”

The day after her surgery when her eye patch was removed, Aunty B was asked what she saw.

“Everything,” she replied.

Aunty B reflected on the importance of sight to cultural practice.

“I can see country, teach culture to kids, recognise bush medicine, bush tucker … so many things when you’ve got eyesight,” she said.

The foundation’s communications director Alison Hill said she wished all of the organisation’s donors and contributors could see the gift of sight being restored.

“I have to say that it never gets old,” Ms Hill said.

“It’s so inspiring to see someone … get their sight back and they can go to work, go to school, do all of those things that most people take for granted.”

Ms Hill said people like Georgie Green helped the foundation continue doing what it does best and it wasn’t too late for supporters to sponsor participants.

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