Lions step up

By Shaun Inguanzo
THE LIONS Club of Dandenong is one step closer to helping stop a rise in visual impairments that researchers fear could one day affect up to 800,000 Australians.
Last December, Star reported that the club was organising a series of awareness seminars to inform local residents on a range of serious visual impairments including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Last week the Lions Club invited community education officer John Simpson from the Centre for Eye Research in Melbourne to speak about the disorders.
Mr Simpson also explained to Lions members about the Lions Eye Health Program (LEHP), the umbrella that Dandenong’s project will fall under.
The speech was designed to motivate members to take part in the project.
Mr Simpson explained that participation in LEHP was minimal by most clubs, and that hosting seminars was rare.
But he spurred the club to pursue the seminar option, saying it would thrust them into a handful of ‘champion’ clubs nationwide actively promoting eye health in their communities.
The club also invited Lions Club of Wheelers Hill member Rob Owers, who has been involved with an already established project at his club.
Mr Owers has helped present 60 seminars within 18 months, and last week he passed on valuable advice to the Dandenong Lions.