Health Canada needs to hear from YOU! Canada survey on eye injuries from handheld lasers is open until March 31, 2025.
Please complete this short survey whether or not you have seen an eye injury from handheld laser devices for the period 2019-2024. The results from the survey will help assess whether the risk of laser eye injury has changed since 2018 and, determine if additional actions are needed to protect people in Canada.
Health Canada recently published new regulations setting safety requirements for the sale and importation of laser products in Canada. The injury data collected from Optometrists in the 2018 survey was instrumental in advancing these new regulations. Additional information about the new regulatory requirements may be foundhere.
Participants are needed for research in screening eyes of people in Saskatchewan with non-invasive imaging technologies and artificial intelligence for early detection of neurodegenerative diseases.
We are seeking volunteers to participate in an eye study aimed at the early detection of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as for the role of healthy control participants. As a participant in this study, you would be asked to read and sign consent form allowing the research team to have access to your existing eye images (OCT, and OCT-A).This study has been approved by the University of Saskatchewan Biomedical Research Ethics Board (ID#4760)
For more information about this study, or to volunteer for this study, please contact:
Neuro-Optical Machine Learning Research Program
Department of Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology
Email: changiz.taghibiglou@usask.ca
Saskatchewan’s optometrists can do more than take care of your vision health – they can dance and fundraise, too.
Saskatoon optometrist Dr. Courtney Kennedy was the winner of this year’s Swinging With The Stars competition in Saskatoon. The annual event pairs dancers with local community leaders to raise money for the Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation.
Dr. Kennedy and her dance partner Jordan Williams were named the champions of the 2022 Ens Auto Swinging With The Stars after raising $44,750 in support of the foundation.
“It feels amazing,” Dr. Kennedy said. “Probably the biggest event I’ve been involved in since optometry school.”
Dr. Kennedy, who owns and operates an optometric clinic in Saskatoon, said she was a little nervous about getting into the competition because she has a lot more experience as an optometrist than as a dancer.
But the opportunity to raise money for an important health care institution in the community was too good to pass up.
“I am involved with a number of other charities, but nothing like this,” she said. “I can’t even explain how incredible it is that I was able to give back to the community and my patients.”
The Swinging With The Stars competition has two different winners: the “Champions” of the event are the pair that raises the most money, and a “Judge’s Choice” dance routine is selected the night of the competition.
As Dr. Kennedy put it, she focused her energy on raising money as much as she could.
“I knew I wasn’t going to win (the dance competition),” Dr. Kennedy said with a laugh. “So I knew I wanted to fundraise a lot.”
Dr. Kennedy completed her study of optometry at the University of Waterloo in 2014 before returning to her hometown of Saskatoon. While practicing optometry is a core part of her professional life, Dr. Kennedy said doctors need to be involved in the communities they practice in.
It’s one of the biggest reasons she chose to take part in the competition – and after taking home the championship, she has zero regrets stepping out of her comfort zone for the fundraiser.
“I think we, as doctors, are only as good as the community we serve. I think at the end of the day it is our obligation to give back in any way we can.” she said.
And this year the money raised has much more direct effect on Dr. Kennedy and her patients – proceeds from this year’s fundraiser are being allocated to the purchase of equipment at the Saskatoon City Hospital’s Eye Care Centre, which delivers a wide variety of ophthalmological care to patients.
“This particular fundraiser, I chose to do because it directly benefits my patients,” Dr. Kennedy said. “I refer patients to the Eye Care Centre every single month. I helped make that place a better place. It’s such an amazing feeling.”
The Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists is proud to recognize the hard work and accomplishments of women in optometry on International Women’s Day 2022 by featuring the stories of two trailblazing Saskatchewan optometrists.
Dr. Diana Monea has been a practicing optometrist for more than 40 years. She is the longest-serving female member in the Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists. When she graduated from the University of Waterloo, she said her class was mostly men entering the field.
When she applied for a bank loan to start her clinic in Saskatchewan, Dr. Monea said she was told her father had to co-sign for her. None of her male colleagues were faced with the same issue.
Dr. Monea said that’s when she knew she would be facing “a rocky road” to establishing herself as an optometrist.
“Women were taken as a liability, and not an asset,” she said. “There weren’t many women to pave the way ahead of us.”
Dr. Diana Monea
Throughout her career, Dr. Monea has let her love of her work push her forward. Between successful clinics in Saskatchewan and Alberta, becoming a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry in 2017, and the establishment of a charity for vision care named after her mother – Anna’s Vision — Dr. Monea certainly found her success.
According to the University of Waterloo Optometry & Vision Science website, about two-thirds of first-year students in the optometry program for each of the last four years have identified as female — a significant change from when Dr. Monea was in school.
Going forward, Dr. Monea said she hoped to see more women in charge of their own practices.
“There’s no reason why a woman can’t run her own practice… I think women have the capability to run their own practice, and could easily do it,” she said.
Dr. Dorothy Barrie, who graduated in 1990 in a class she called “about 50-50” men and women, said she was excited seeing more women entering into optometry.
“I love it,” she said. “I think it’s a wonderful career for both men and women… optometry was great because I loved the science of it.”
Barrie, who was also the first female President of the Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists, said the goal to finding success as a new optometrist was to “become indispensable.”
Whether that means learning to code, acquiring business skills, or simply working hard to excel at the more “day-to-day” aspects of eye exams and diagnoses, Dr. Barrie stressed that she could never be complacent and still succeed.
“Whatever you choose you want to do, do it to the best of your ability,” she said.
When Dr. Barrie was becoming the president of the SAO, she was doing so as a single mother. As a self-described feminist, Dr. Barrie said putting family first was crucial to her success – and having a family didn’t mean you couldn’t achieve your goals.
In addition to her medical education, Dr. Barrie earned an MBA from the University of Saskatchewan — and Dr. Monea is in the midst of earning a Master of Human Resource Management from the University of Regina.
“To be successful, you have to be a lifelong learner, because everything is changing,” Dr. Barrie said.
Both Dr. Monea and Dr. Barrie said finding a mentor or a support group is important, whether that be family or colleagues. They also both stressed the importance of family to their successes, and that they both wanted to be able to be mentors for new optometrists following in their footsteps.
“Look for mentors, look for support, a team,” Dr. Barrie said. “You have to join and become a part of groups, so you can hear other perspectives and you learn so much from other people.”
“Get yourself a mentor in the field who has the time to talk to you about various things,” Dr. Monea said. “If I were starting out again, I wouldn’t do it alone.”
On International Women’s Day, the SAO is proud and excited to draw attention to the incredible work of women in the optometric field in the province and throughout the world, as well as those who work as optometric assistants, office managers, and all other positions that support optometrists and the optometric industry.
