Nov 2016

New shore clinic for Auckland Eye
Auckland Eye opened its new North Shore
clinic and operating suite at 3 Fred
Thomas Drive, Takapuna, at the end of
August, followed by a launch celebration on 22
September. Auckland Eye’s doctors work from
14 clinics around the Super-city, and while this
facility is brand new, it replaces a previous clinic
in the Takapuna area.
“I’ve had a surgery of some sort in Takapuna
for the best part of 20 years,” says Dr Archie
McGeorge. “But around 10 years ago we
transferred most of our ‘North of the bridge’
Drs John Russell, Jenni Waddell and John Arcus
Xieda Man, Varny Ganesalingam, Naomi Bicheno and Alex Bicheno
activity to Albany, where we had a hub. But we
still had a small, 50sqm clinic at 2 Fred Thomas
Drive, Takapuna, which was very popular.”
When Dr McGeorge discovered, thanks to local
optometrist Martin Davey, that a 400sqm site
was to become available next door, at No 3 Fred
Thomas Drive, he took the idea of creating a new,
state-of-the-art hub in Takapuna to the other
shareholders. To Dr McGeorge’s delight, his idea
was supported.
“Our previous premises were restricted to
one person, there wasn’t much space, and
any patients for surgery had to
come down to Remuera,” says Dr
McGeorge. “We’ve been wanting
to develop operating facilities
on the shore for a long time, and
Takapuna is a great, centralised
location – close to the bus station,
the motorways, and we now have
free parking for 34 cars.”
The new, purpose-designed-andbuilt
facility has four state of the
art consulting rooms, plus a fully
equipped operating theatre.
“We’re starting with cataract
surgery, which of course is a key
service of ours, but we have the
equipment here for a variety of
operations, from diabetic laser to
vitrectomy,” says Dr McGeorge. “By
next year we expect to have the
facilities required to cover all adult
eye surgery at North Shore.”
This will be good news for the
often older demographic who
may not wish to travel across the
bridge. While the new clinic will
serve Auckland as far north as
Warkworth, there will still be a
small, regional consulting clinic in
Albany where the old hub used to
be.
Auckland Eye doctors working
from the premises include Drs
Stuart Carroll, Dean Corbett,
Archie McGeorge, Yvonne Ng, Sue
Ormonde and Alison Pereira, and
the clinic is open five days a week.
Prior to the opening,
the site was blessed
at a dawn ceremony,
attended by staff and
contractors on Friday
26 August.
During design, the
team at Focusplan
addressed common
difficulties sight
impaired often
encounter. As a result,
flooring materials,
surface colours and
lighting has been
carefully selected to
help guide patients
through each space.
The launch party
saw around 100
invited guests,
including local GPs
and optometrists,
enjoy a short tour of
the facility and hear
Dr Corbett explain
Auckland Eye’s plans for the future.
“There’s plenty of room for expansion here,”
says Dr McGeorge. “And we are looking forward
Dr Dean Corbett and nurses Jillian and Miriam in the new theatre. The team were the first team to operate at
Auckland Eye North Shore
to offering a full range of ophthalmic services
on the North Shore. This is a quantum leap from
anything we’ve had on the shore before.” ▀
Silmo Sydney organiser recognised
Gary Fitz-Roy, managing director of
Expertise Events, organiser of Silmo
Sydney, was recognised as a Paul Harris
Fellow, following the efforts of Expertise Events
in facilitating a nationwide initiative to raise
awareness to the risks of macular degeneration.
Through the programme, Expertise Events
distributed 500,000 Amsler Grid cards, a simple
test people can use to see if they are at risk of
macular degeneration. The cards were distributed
at a number of needlecraft consumer events
organised by Expertise Events in Australia.
“We worked with Rotary Club Victoria member,
Jeannie Handsaker, to distribute the cards at our
craft events and set up a designated area where
eye specialists had the opportunity to educate
people on how to effectively complete the test,”
said Fitz-Roy in a statement. “We recognised
these events host the demographic most at risk
of macular degeneration.”
Established in 1957, The Paul Harris Fellow
recognition acknowledges individuals who
contribute, or who have contributions made
in their name, of US$1,000 plus to The Rotary
Foundation of Rotary International.
See associated picture and Silmo story on p19 ▀
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Live Brightly
22 NEW ZEALAND OPTICS November 2016