Free eye checks and glasses for 250 Northlanders

Whangārei school teacher Moses Cherrington has his eyes tested by OneSight's Gemma Surridge. Photo / John Stone

Free eye tests and prescription glasses could not have come at a better time for Whangārei school teacher Moses Cherrington whose eyesight has been deteriorating over the past decade.

The former Northland rugby rep was among 125 people who turned up at the Salvation Army in Whangārei yesterday for free eye tests and glasses prescribed by an Australian-based team from OneSight.

OneSight is the charity partner of OPSM, a retailer of eye glasses in New Zealand and Australia, and offers its services worldwide to those who cannot afford glasses.

Cherrington heard about the free clinic from a Salvation Army worker about a month ago and decided to go along on the day.

"I need better glasses for reading and teaching as my eyesight has been getting worse over the last 10 years so I am getting a bi-focal one made by OneSight.

"They are doing a good job because for those who only have a pension to live on, this initiative will help them get appropriate glasses," Cherrington said.

OneSight programme manager Australia and New Zealand, Jenny Harnett, said 125 people turned up in Kaitaia on Monday and 89 per cent needed glasses.

"There's no optometrist in Kaitaia, the closest one is one hour away, and it's a challenge for them to take time off work and drive out of town.

"The appointments filled up quickly. A lot of them wear $2 glasses from the local chemist that are unsuitable so it was important that we give them quality of vision and a product that was customised around their need," she said.

OneSight programme manager Jenny Harnett at the eye clinic at the Salvation Army in Whangārei. Photo / John Stone

The team's next three stops are in Auckland.

Ready-to-wear glasses are issued at the clinics to those who need them, while more complex glasses will be made in the lab and distributed through Salvation Army centres.

Almost 90 per cent of those who attended OneSight and Salvation Army screening clinics in Whangārei last year needed glasses and nearly half of the group walked out with their new glasses on the day.