New President of SAO from Tisdale and Ministry of Health announce Glaucoma Eye Care expansion in rural and remote areas

Sheila Bautz

Special to the Herald

In an announcement earlier this month, the Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists (SAO) in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health made an official launch for a two-year Glaucoma Eye Care Pilot Program. The Saskatchewan pilot program will actively reduce travel barriers for time sensitive and vital eye care clinical tests and assessments in an effort to prevent blindness from occurring in patients.

In a diverse and large province with remote and rural communities, travel distances often restrict and delay patients with the ability to attend vital health care appointments. As such, the pilot program is a vital necessity for the province’s rural and remote residents. It seeks to ensure that they receive timely glaucoma care through licenced ophthalmologist appointments that are closer to their home and communities.

“Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists (SAO) applauds the decision by the Ministry of Health to ensure glaucoma care provided by optometrists,” said Dr. Heather Hunter, new President of the Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists (SAO). “Optometrists have had the ability to treat glaucoma in Saskatchewan since 2016. Expanding public funded access to glaucoma services will improve access to care, particularly in rural markets.”

Dr. Hunter is from Tisdale and was recently appointed as President of the SAO to represent Saskatchewan at the local, regional and national levels. She owns, operates and is a practitioner at the Tisdale Eye Care Center. 

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the differences between the professions of Ophthalmologist and Optometrist is the level of training received and the areas of expertise the professionals attain in the medical field of eye health care.

The AAO experts inform that an Ophthalmologist is the only optometry care specialist — eye doctor — with a medical degree (MD) or doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO). An Optometrist is not a medical doctor, but instead, they hold a doctor of optometry (OD).

“Ophthalmologists must complete many more years of medical training than optometrists and opticians,” state Jennifer Churchill and Dan Gudgel with the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). “As a result, an ophthalmologist is the most qualified among eye care professionals to diagnose and treat a wide range of eye diseases, beyond the routine eye and vision care provided by an optometrist.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, the eye condition known as glaucoma damages the optic nerve that is located at the back of the eye. The optic nerves are vital for sharp vision and responsible for sending the visual messages to an individual’s brain. However, damage to the optic nerve often results through internal high pressure to the eye due to to various causes. The pressure has the potential to stimulate vision loss or blindness in the eye.

“Many forms of glaucoma have no warning signs,” inform the Mayo Clinic Staff in a public statement. “The effect is so gradual that you may not notice a change in vision until the condition is in its later stages.”

The Mayo Clinic also state that the medical condition of glaucoma can result with no obvious symptoms or pressure in the eye. Glaucoma can occur in every age group from infants to seniors in their golden years. In individuals over the age of 60 years old, it is one of the leading causes of blindness.

“We are very pleased to introduce the Glaucoma Care pilot program which will provide this focused care in a more efficient and sustainable way,” said Lori Carr, the Saskatchewan Minister of Rural and Remote Health. “Allowing optometrists to work to the top of their scope of practice enables ophthalmologists to focus on more complex cases and surgical interventions. This will improve patient flow within the health system and expand access for patients across Saskatchewan.”

Eye exams with a licensed optometrist who assesses various aspects of eye health, such as eye pressure tests, are important for early detection of potential eye problems, such as glaucoma. Through monitoring and early detection, glaucoma may be remedied, slowed or prevented. In addition, individuals with diabetes type I and type II are often encouraged by licensed optometrists to maintain regular, routine eye exams every six months to identify potential issues that are diabetes related.

The Saskatchewan Glaucoma Care Pilot Program ensures that provincial residents will have greater access to glaucoma assessment, monitoring, diagnostic testing and follow-up services delivered by licensed optometrists within their legislated scope of practice.

“Expanding publicly funded glaucoma services to include services delivered by optometrists increases patient access to 200 licensed optometrists operating in 42 communities,” said Hunter (SAO). “This will improve access to care, particularly in rural areas of the province.”

As a result, the Glaucoma Care Pilot Program in Saskatchewan has joined other western provinces who already expanded glaucoma care in their demographics. In Saskatchewan, this pilot program ensures consistency with national eye care requirements and approaches for greater accessibility in receiving medically required eye care.

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