Industry supports optom on a charitable mission

A Welsh eye care supplier is supporting the charitable mission of an optometrist heading to Africa in October to offer free eye care to children in need.

Based in Newton, Powys, Three-Sixty has donated ophthalmic drops and hygiene products worth £250 to optometrist Ruth Easton ahead of her trip to Kasala in Uganda. Ms Easton will be setting up a temporary refraction clinic in a school that is attended by 400 children.

She will stay at the House of Joy charity school and offer sight tests and spectacles if required to the children there during her two-week trip.

Discussing her trip, Ms Easton, who works at Specsavers in Merthyr Tydfill, explained: “The House of Joy charity runs a school for 400 local children providing a home, education and employment opportunities. I will spend my two weeks running a refraction clinic for the children in the school, as well as those in the local community, which has a population of 1500.”

General manager at Three-Sixty, Peter Simpson, said the company recognised the important work that Ms Easton would perform during her trip.

“On learning about what Ruth was planning, we immediately agreed to support her mission by supplying eye drops and hygiene products,” said Mr Simpson, adding: “Such products will be very scarce in Uganda and will ensure Ruth’s voluntary work is supported in helping the children and local community in the area that she is visiting access the eye care they require."