Vision for affordable eye care
Of the roughly 100,000 people living in Makhanda, 80,000 can ’ t afford proper eye care.
That, together with the estimation that 95% of the town’s visually impaired people need not have been, bring into sharp focus the need for good, affordable eye care.
These are some of the statistics that motivated optometrists Dr Trevor Davies and Dr Jinjong Chung to launch the Eiohn Hayes Foundation in honor of former business partner, close friend, and philanthropist Eiohn Hayes.
His widow, Lynda, and daughters Emma and Taylor were guests of honour at the launch at the Wyvern Club at Kingswood College, Makhanda, on October 24.
The event reflected the combination of strong personal and community connections, and professional ethics behind the foundation.
The Eiohn Hayes Foundation aims to make quality eye care accessible to people who can’t
afford to pay private practitioners’ rates. East London optometrist Stef Kriel, a former director of the South African Optometric Association, set out the status quo, and spoke about the education and training, along with recording of data, that would make quality eye care accessible to people using public health services.
Davies spoke later of an imminent partnership with Settlers Hospital to introduce a clinic system that will address the two most common causes of reversible blindness – refractive errors and
cataracts.
Up to now, patients in the public health system have had to travel to public hospitals in Gqeberha or East London.
Hayes and Davies studied together and for eight years ran an optometry practice in Gqeberha before Eiohn and Lynda, who is also an optometrist, moved to the UK.
Trevor described Eiohn as having a deep respect for people, “treating every single person with love, kindness and respect”. In Gqeberha, he often volunteered at Livingstone Hospital. He also started an eye clinic in Peddie, bringing eye care to those who needed it.
When he moved to the UK, he continued to help the community, doing domiciliary work with patients who had disabilities, including learning disabilities and palliative care.
He passed away in 2020. Davies continues to run an eye clinic from his Makhanda practice, which he started in 1990.
The clinic aims to bring affordable eye care to community members who cannot afford private health care and helps hundreds of people to see every year.
Davies, Chung and Lynda Hayes decided to start a fundraising arm in honor of Eiohn to help make eye care even more accessible to those who cannot afford to pay.
This initiative saw the launch of the Eiohn Hayes Foundation, with Chung the first big donor.