My friend, Fred
It’s been 30 years since The Fred Hollows Foundation was established to help end avoidable blindness. As his friend Ray Martin reflects on this groundbreaking work, Fred’s legacy continues to change lives around the world.
As one of Australia’s most respected journalists, Ray Martin has covered some of the world’s biggest stories and sat down with an array of notable figures from Sir Donald Bradman to Sir Elton John. Yet there was one story that stayed with him. “I’ve easily interviewed 10,000 people over my career, and Professor Fred Hollows is probably the most remarkable human being I’ve ever met,” Ray tells The Weekly today.
Ray first met Fred and his wife, Gabi, in 1980 for a 60 Minutes story on the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program which Fred helped roll out across Australia to tackle the high incidence of blindness in Indigenous communities. While Ray recalls thinking Fred was a “cranky old bugger”, he was seriously impressed by his work, not only restoring sight but highlighting the appalling state of Aboriginal health, and a close friendship ensued.
After Fred was diagnosed with cancer, he and Gabi realised their time to make a difference was limited, and so they embarked on a mission to ensure Fred’s work would continue after his death. Ray, then host of The Midday Show (a program Fred would regularly appear on to raise awareness or funds for his causes), was approached by his friend in 1992 to join The Fred Hollows Foundation’s board as its first Chairman. It was a position he held for 10 years. “I had huge respect for what he did, and his logic was almost inescapable,” says Ray of his decision to champion the cause.
Fred’s death in 1993 was a tragic loss for the foundation. While it had a wealth of wonderful ideas and state of the art equipment that Fred had helped design to make cheaper cataract lenses, it lacked the funds to keep going. A $1 million cash injection from entrepreneur and philanthropist Dick Smith helped keep Fred and Gabi’s dream alive, and generous donations from the public, especially for the foundation’s “Fiver for Fred” campaign, have enabled it to grow.
Since launching 30 years ago, the foundation has also restored sight to more than three million people and supported programs that have delivered more than 200 million doses of antibiotics for trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. And what started as the seed of an idea has grown into a global leader in eye health and international development, making
real, tangible change to the lives of those without sight both here and overseas. If anything embodies the Aussie generosity of spirit, it’s The Fred Hollows Foundation’s tireless mission to end avoidable blindness.
In Australia, Fred’s work to improve eye health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has had a profound impact. During Fred’s lifetime, First Nations peoples were 10 times more likely to be blind than other Australians. Today, that number is three times more likely.
As part of his 60 Minutes reportage, Ray recalls Fred performing surgery on Aboriginal rights activist Vincent Lingiari. “Fred was unable to do anything with one eye but the other he was able to fix. There was a moment during filming where Fred was overjoyed … [the surgery] gave Vincent back his power, as eyes do to all of us, as a leading elder,” says Ray.
“Fred got to put his beliefs into practice … but beyond that he was determined to make this world a better place. People talk but very few people either can or are able to do it, and Fred could and did.” Fred would say “teach the teachers first”, adopting a ‘treat, train, equip’ model that became the bedrock of the foundation’s work in Australia and globally. Over the past 15 years more than 2000 surgeons have been trained to deliver sightsaving surgery in more than 25 countries. The foundation also works to strengthen health systems, equip hospitals, and empower local people to deliver services, and has become a leading international voice advocating for more investment in eye health. “I’ve been to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Bangladesh with the foundation, and seen at least
100 cataract eye operations now,” says Ray. The procedure takes about 10 to 12 minutes to remove a cataract and put an intraocular lens in.
“Every operation is a miracle. There’s nothing as magical as someone who is blind and the next minute they can see. That miracle happens millions of times because of Fred Hollows.”
Today, for as little as $25 in some countries, The Fred Hollows Foundation can continue to restore the sight of the estimated 17 million people around the world with cataract blindness. “For the price of a sandwich and a couple of coffees you can have someone see again, it’s as easy as that,” says Ray. “And it happens for people in countries that would have been condemned to blindness in the past.
“That’s something Fred said, you can’t let someone be blind and walk away, you have to try and fix it. He was the greatest humanist I ever came across – his motivation was always to help people.”
To donate to The Fred Hollows Foundation, visit hollows.org