Life changing cataract surgery for Yarrabah residents
"Today is a very special day for all of us"
This week 14 residents from Yarrabah received life changing cataract surgery in Cairns. We were fortunate enough to have a yarn with two of the patients about what the surgery meant to them and how receiving opportunities such as this positively affects their community.
Mr Alistair Malcolm, who is affectionately known as "Bishop" was the first Aboriginal Anglican Church Minister in Australia. When asked what receiving this surgery meant to him he said, "Today is a very special day for all of us coming here to have our eyes looked at. It means that we can go home knowing that we are going to have good eyesight. The doctor said to me that he'll make it so that I can see better next time I see him."
When asked how he felt after the surgery, fellow patient Mr Bryce Barlow, a Yarrabah elder said, "I feel good, it's a little bit blurry now but you can't expect to come out of it like Superman."
Many of the patients who attended surgery in Cairns will be returning in six weeks' time to have their other eye operated on by our ophthalmologist Dr Brian Todd.
We would like to thank all of the patients for allowing our staff into their lives for the day. We would also like to thank Dr Todd and his staff, Gurriny Yealamucka Primary Health Care Centre and Ramsay Cairns Day Surgery.
This surgery was delivered through our Eye and Ear Surgical Support Services (EESSS) program which is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.
