In Contact - November 2006
Optometrists & Optimists
I enjoy being an Optometrist. Most of the time.
Keeping up this positive approach, I must admit, has been difficult these past two years.
It takes a healthy dose of optimism, without which one might ?chuck it all in?. As some have done. Others will no doubt follow.
Expanding the profession is a fine and healthy evolution. Most of us agree on that. It was however the implementation of the changes that's been poorly handled.
It boiled over in March 2005 when the ODO Board sent out their badly administered APC renewals. It's carried on since and there?ve been significant numbers of disgruntled practitioners.
It seems that ingrained structures and people, the so-called ?old boys network?, have allowed a ?closed shop? to thrive, seemingly influencing various optometric bodies in NZ.
During my teens in South Africa in the ?70s, we endured a similar system among the leaders of the apartheid regime and the military machine that propped it all up.
For example P W Botha ?Die Groot Krokodil? was, for fourteen years, Minister of Defence. He then took over as Prime Minister from B J Vorster. The Minister of Defence post was then filled by the Chief of the Defence Force, General Magnus Malan, and so on. The Broederbond wielded massive power. Jews and Blacks were not among their favourites. They believed women had their place too. Not unlike the toffee-nosed ?old boys? common among British colonials, who held similar views.
So it went.
Back in NZ, formerly kosher immigrant optometrists were deemed potentially ?incompetent?. They were told to prove themselves at considerable cost and stress. New immigrant optometrists must now jump through expensive and daunting hoops in tit-for-tat, Aussie-pandering registration limitations, enforced under the guise of the HPCA Act. It's making it very difficult for provincial optometrists to find optometrists.
Recent issues, posts on the NZAO EGO list and electioneering have raised some of these issues again. Did someone strike a nerve? The response seemed a bit over the top.
Like a G5 Howitzer.
South Africa?s Denel built G5 and G6 Self propelled Howitzer - one of PW?s favourite ?toys? - is a story in itself; one of international mystery and intrigue involving a certain Dr Bull, Canada, the CIA, Mossad, Saddam Hussein and South Africa?
I digress.
Boring?
Why do I mention all of this? Well my name did get bandied about. The post in question also implied that those of us that challenged the Board?s autocratic dogma had not had any influence on the Board. The post also stated ?Alan (had) plenty of time to publish his opinions?
I found that comment amusing and rather strange. In a meeting between the Board Chair, Deputy Chair and representatives of the affected parties, in August 2005, I was specifically asked not to publish my opinions in the public domain.
In the interests of resolving the issues at hand I agreed. We had a reasonable and largely successful meeting. Many issues were satisfactorily resolved.
There are however a few older optometrists still under the gun and immigrants must prove they (O)CAN(Z).
I am now simply responding to the challenge to publish my opinions. As one does.
Our group are convinced that had we not resisted, the Board would not have backed off. The post - that implies the Board made all theses positive changes without input from us is disingenuous. It intimates that the Board are considerate, understanding, nice and thoughtful while magnanimous and benevolent in their actions.
I think most readers of this column know better. We weren?t all born yesterday.
I have in my possession evidence, accurate timelines and over 1200 emails on these issues, not to mention letters admitting fault and procedural errors on the part of ODO Board members and employees. In one case a dispensing optician has been dispensed with an APC stating they are fit to practise as an optometrist!
I have other correspondence where OCANZ admits faults and errors in their examination procedures that may have contributed to a failure by an immigrant candidate. there's more from others in NZ, UK, ZA, USA and AUS that shows that some of ?our? leaders are a law unto them selves and make it very difficult to get some things done.
Of course, as the election five-pager correctly points out, the NZAO have done many good things. No one argues that.
I've also had help from and favourable dealings with some at the NZAO and Board.
At the same time those that stand for council and President must, by the nature of the job, learn to handle criticism. I've had to deal with it for nigh on a quarter century on councils and six years of Presidencies. we're not all perfect. Things may be overlooked. Poor decisions made.
Sometimes people mean well but don't consider all the ramifications.
Some poor sod gets caught in the crossfire.
Unfortunately what I see is too much of the ?I'm in the boat, Jack? attitude. Some get left to sink or swim.
I don't see that as being collegial or showing solidarity with one?s ?less fortunate? colleagues.
Sorry.
I sincerely wish the two newly elected NZAO councillors all the best. I hope that they, together with the current council, will help restore a positive spirit in NZ optometry. Most of us would prefer this to the bickering, pettiness, protectionism, cronyism and political correctness that have blossomed during the unfortunate tenure of the Labour Guided Missile, whose fallout is currently affecting all New Zealanders.
Too many -isms lead to schisms.
I deplored the Broederbond. Similarly I deplore any form of Optombond.
Keep it honest. Keep it transparent.
Maybe a quote I recently came across is pertinent at this point;
In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way of life as when they are about to abandon it, so that fanaticism and intolerance reach their most intense forms just before tolerance and mutual acceptance come to be the natural order of things.
Bernard Levin 1928 ?
British Journalist
Tolerance and mutual acceptance?
Now wouldn?t that be nice.
Tech-News.
We recently updated our Medmont Studio 3 to the latest release of the XML based Studio 4. It's more functional and many bugs have been ironed out with improved network speed and image email options. we're now more efficiently able to view and manage our Kowa retinal images, E300 topographies and M700 Fields from any of our designated computers with easy look up by name, number, SUNIX link or various other filtering options.
Another useful addition is the Rose K NaFl RGP simulator whose algorithms get one pretty close to a decent ?fit?. As I've said before It's no substitute for trial fitting but may save the patient some uncomfortable and unnecessary trial lenses.
I find simulators useful for tweaking designs and peripheries but generally don't place too much faith in the peripheral interpretation. This is due in the main and as mentioned in previous columns, to ?errors? inherent in the vagaries of applying corneal heights and 3D extrapolations to 2D data, a reference sphere and mathematical concepts way beyond my addled brain.
I don't generally fit many Rose K lenses as I use my own SAKS design [Saks Advanced Keratoconus System], based on refining fifty years of Keratoconus fittings in the Saks practice. The Rose K lens has similar origins and in many ways appears to be of similar design and principles.
Rose K is particularly useful for those keratoconics who travel a lot as It's manufactured in many countries on specifically programmed lathes that theoretically allows for repeatable results. It's also a great ?recipe? lens for those who don't have customised fitting sets and the specific skills needed to design their own complex multicurve, blended lenses.
A recent trial with a real Rose K trial lens had me making notes of ?reduce edge lift 0.15mm?. The Medmont virtual simulator led me to order a lens with a -0.2 reduced edge lift. On delivery it was a great fit and enthusiastically accepted at aftercare by my young Japanese patient who?d cracked his lens of unknown design, obtained in Japan two years prior.
Look out for the ?new? Rose K2 and even newer large-diameter Rose K IC [Irregular Cornea] just released in Canada, with asymmetric versions to come.
Queenstown 2007
don't forget to register for the Cornea & Contact Lens Society?s 50th Anniversary Conference in Queenstown, March 8-11, 2007. Details of the excellent speakers, workshops and entertainment programme, elsewhere in this edition of NZ Optics.
Keep an eye out for online registration at http://www.nzoptics.co.nz/clconf/.
Hell Yea!
It's been a hell year at work. we've endured a multi-million dollar revamp of our building at 280 Queen Street in the City.
For the past ten months we've had to work in dust and noise. Our Lorne and Queen Street entrances were boarded up, with scaffolding and partitions blocking access and light. we've been amazed at the tolerance and good humour our staff and patients have shown throughout the mess.
Thank you.
Just as we were beginning to see the light and the end of the project a worker cut a 40mm, 60psi gas main on Lorne Street. The fact that he and the building didn't go up in smoke is a miracle. I suspect the high pressure ?blew it out?. One could hear the jet engine-like rush of gas and smell it, two blocks away. We had to close for a few hours. Fortunately we could log in to our appointments remotely and reschedule our patients. The following Sunday we were woken to find we?d had our front door smashed, seemingly by a bunch of cash seeking P-heads, all in a locked down, secure building.
we've had workers, plumbers, GIB stoppers, electricians, glaziers and carpet layers in and out of our offices throughout this period.
Enough already.
It is however looking good now.
I'm thus more than looking forward to our family visit to South Africa during December.
Before I go I?ll finish off the traditional ?Best of the Web? edition of In Contact.
Until then, cheers.
For more information or any comments email Alan at incontact@optom.co.nz.