Dr Carole Poloso examines a patient at the eye clinic in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Photo / Supplied
Dr Carole Poloso examines a patient at the eye clinic in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Photo / Supplied
Every time eye specialist Dr Carole Poloso speaks about the children, elderly and ordinary villagers she helps, her voice breaks with emotion.
Just over 10 years ago, the former Wesley College student was working as a general doctor in the Solomon Islands when an ophthalmologist - an eye doctor who diagnoses and treats eye diseases - visited the province she was in.
“I had the opportunity to go and work along with him when he was there.
“Seeing all the work that he was doing - the sight, the joy and all of that that came when the patient could see...I’m getting emotional now.
“Seeing the instant joy and the gratefulness that patients have.”
The experience had a lasting impression on the young doctor, who jumped at the chance to take up an opening as an intern at an eye clinic in the country’s capital city, Honiara.
Dr Carole Poloso is dedicating her life to helping restore eyesight in the Pacific. Photo / Supplied
By 2011, she worked at the National Referral Hospital when she was offered an opportunity to study at the Pacific Eye Institute in Fiji, run by the Fred Hollows Foundation.
The charity was founded by New Zealand-born eye surgeon Professor Fred Hollows and wife Gabi, in 1992, in a bid to restore sight to the needlessly blind. The charity has carried out extensive work in the Pacific.
Milestone: 350 Pasifika eye care specialists trained
Poloso is one of 350 Pacific eye care specialists who have been trained under the charity - a milestone that was recently reached.
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ’s chief executive, Dr Audrey Aumua, said the training of eye care graduates - including ophthalmologists, eye nurses and eye care technicians - was integral to increasing access to quality eye care for people in the region.
“Of these 353 eye care specialists, just under 80 per cent of this trained workforce have delivered more than 88,000 eye surgeries and 1.1 million eye consultations with our support.
“We will continue to work alongside Pacific governments, health ministries and universities to further develop the regional eye health workforce; ensuring that eye care services are accessible to those who need it most.”
New Zealand-born Australian ophthalmologist, the late Professor Fred Hollows, pictured in Vietnam. Photo / NZ Herald Archives
Today, Poloso works at the Regional Eye Centre in Honiara and as part of her work, regularly travels to the nine provinces in the Solomons to see patients and perform eye surgeries.
She acknowledged how vital those visits were, as many villagers did not have the means - whether it be access to a vehicle or money - to travel into the city to see a doctor in the first place.
“A lot of them are farmers and village dwellers. They don’t have much money to pay to access our services. So having the means for the eye team here in Honiara to go out to the provinces, it makes a lot of difference to the simple village person.
“Eye conditions affect the whole spectrum - from babies to the elderly. So we deal with everyone with any eye condition.
Not just about restoring eyesight, but a livelihood
“I think if it were not for the foundation and having the training and being able to do what we are able to do now - without the training, we wouldn’t be able to do much,” she says, becoming emotional again.
Poloso gives an example of one of the people they treated on one of those province visits - who happened to be a former driver employed at the hospital she works at.
He had developed cataracts and decided to quit his job and return home to his province.
But while back home, his situation worsened and he had to be led everywhere, helped to the shower and helped with his clothes.
“From working in Honiara to not being able to help himself and being cared for by his family.
“It doesn’t seem like much. But to them, the burden that they cause to their family...and then being able to turn that around and help the family and put bread on the table again - that’s a big thing for them.
“It’s not just about being able to see but being able to provide again. We performed cataract surgery on him and he walked home after that.”
