MONROVIA-A month-long training for members of General Ophthalmic Association of Liberia (GOAL) has ended at the New Sight Eye Center (NSEC) in the 72nd Community, Paynesville, Montserrado County.
The training organized by the General Ophthalmic Association of Liberia (GOAL) from Thursday, June 16 ended Saturday, July 2 and was aimed to build the capacity of the organization’s members.
It brought together the Association’s 101 members from across the country.
During the month-long training, the participating members were drilled through various topics to refresh their professional eye health care skills and enable them provide the update eye health delivery services to the population.
The training was conducted three days each in every week commencing from Thursday to Saturday that dealt with various components of specialty in the eye healthcare professionals.
The first day of the training was attended by Ophthalmic Nurses, Vision Technicians, Optometry Technicians, Opticians and Ophthalmic Medical Assistants (OMAs).
They were refreshed in reviewing standardized assessment process, proper diagnosis, referral pathways, cataract pre-operative and post-Operative Cataract assessment, filing Cataract Surgical Rate (CSR), refraction manual, assessment process, proper diagnosis, refraction children, referral pathway, fitting and mounting, dispensing, retinoscope, subjective refraction, transposition, geometry and addressing mal-practices in Ophthalmic practices and legal implications in Ophthalmic practices.
The second week of the training brought together Cataract Surgeons and Optometrists with focus on pre-operative evaluations, assessment process, proper diagnosis, referral pathways, a septic precaution during surgery, evaluation of Cataract Surgical Records, and managing intra-operative complications, post-operative evaluation, Leadership and ethical issues.
For the third week, the refresher training attendees were the ophthalmologists, which deliberations were on various topics including, pre-operative evaluations, assessment process, glaucoma evaluations, spectacles prescription in children, and managing cataracts in children, eye cancers and their management, addressing malpractices in ophthalmology.
Facilitators of the month-long were Dr. Niranjan Pehere, Mr. Allison Paygar, Dr. Catherine Gaisie, Mr. Robert F. Dolo, Dr. Joseph Kerkula, Atty. Victor Howard, Mr. James Yileyon, Dr. John Douglas, Mr. Jonathan Copeland, and Madam Catherin Gargu, among others.
Speaking at the closed of the training, General Ophthalmic Association of Liberia (GOAL) National Treasurer, Mrs. Iris Miller, thanked the organization’s members for their full participation in the month-long refresher training.
Mrs. Miller: “Indicated that the training is intended to refresh them on what they have learned and to introduce to them additional skills to bring them up to speed with the modern-day eye healthcare services being provided the world over of which Liberia is no exception”.
Speaking on behalf of the participating members, Dr. Jemmah P. Larbelee, Ophthalmologist at the Redemption Hospital on Bushrod Island, termed the refresher training as good and praised GOAL for organizing it as it has been long overdue.
Dr. Larbelee called for the refresher training to be regularly conducted as it will alert them of their professional eye healthcare services and how they can be effective and efficient in their various functions.
“One of the ways our services can effectual the section of the overall health of Liberia is for eye healthcare to be progressive and that can only be done through the General Ophthalmic Association of Liberia (GOAL)”, she pointed out.
At the end of the training, certificates of participation were awarded to the participants in the various categories of eye healthcare delivery.
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