Committed Professionals
International commitment: a true human value!
A dedicated optician!
Shawn Donnelly, optician and co-owner of the Optique Donnelly clinic in Pointe-Claire, has developed a mobile optometry clinic to offer eye care to the inhabitants of Nunavik. In the past five years, he has visited 14 villages in Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay.
Shawn sets off with an optometrist for his two-week visits to two or three different villages to provide as many individuals as possible with professional eye care. He brings along a wide selection of frames and makes sure that patients receive eyewear suited to their vision problems. They work jointly with the Tulattavik Hospital, which manages the team’s travel and lodging and ensures that all the materials needed are already on site.
For Shawn, each visit not only represents a professional journey, but also a personal challenge since he must adapt to a different lifestyle and unfamiliar customs. People living in Nunavik hardly have access to services, have no reliable road systems and must deal with an extremely harsh northern climate. Despite this change of scenery, Mr. Donnelly has noted a great deal of mutual support among villagers, who are always pleased to welcome him.
Opto-Réseau is proud to be represented by eye care professionals like Shawn Donnelly and congratulates him on his humanitarian involvement.
Six month in Mali!
Carole Melançon, optometrist and owner of the Centre Visuel de Mont St-Hilaire, has returned from a six-month humanitarian trip planned for four years to the small town of
Bamako in Mali.
Ms. Melançon had three specific goals for her trip. The first was to publish four research project papers in order for the Institut d’ophtalmologie tropical de l’Afrique (IOTA) to regain its research school status. Secondly, she was able to teach the “Binocular Vision” and “Optometry Laboratory” courses.
The third purpose of her mission was to provide optometric equipment for examination rooms. She shipped 800 kilos of equipment per plane, including two examination chairs, a phoroptor and visual field cameras.
Dr. Melançon hopes that the IOTA will continue its training mission. She is prepared to support the organization by creating distance training modules. Training in optometry based on the Quebec optometry training model is now recognized by the department of education in Mali.
Opto-Réseau is proud to be represented by health professionals like Carole Melançon and congratulates her for her humanitarian dedication, courage and great generosity.
Humanitarian Journey!
In October 2009, Marie-Carole Bégin, optometrist and owner of Centre vision Bégin in St-Georges, travelled to Labrousse, a small town located in the mountains of Haiti. She is a member of a humanitarian group who usually goes on two missions every year to help inhabitants of underprivileged areas. During the mission in Haiti, optometrists, opticians, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons and nurses provided treatment to 3,000 patients of all ages who needed ophthalmologic or surgical care. Congratulations for this commitment!
