Feature
A Man With ‘ Long-Way ’ Vision
When a near-blind indigenous man told Dr Angus Turner that he could see a long way , it gave the young ophthalmologist profound insight into his own life and practice .
It ’ s perfectly understandable how an enthusiastic dissection of an ox eye in a Year 10 science class might capture the imagination of a 15-year-old school boy and inspire a life in ophthalmology . A dramatic squirt here , a gross splurt there sum up a perfect day at school . But what a young Angus Turner did next was a little more unusual .
The year was 1992 , a time when teenagers ’ imaginations were fired by the relatively new phenomenon of the World Wide Web . The curious incidence of the ox eye at the Guildford Grammar School science lab quickly moved to the computer lab and in just a click of a mouse , Angus was sending an email to the professor of ophthalmology at Oxford University .
“ To be honest , I was searching the Oxford website because I loved rowing and was on the page for the famous Oxford-Cambridge boat race . I just followed the links to ophthalmology . The professor had just set up his webpage and the first email to trickle through was from a 15-year-old boy with an interest in eyes in Perth , Australia , asking him if he had any work !”
“ He wrote back and said it was a lovely idea but I probably should go to medical school first . As it turned out , I did both . After completing my internship at ‘ Charlies ’ in 2001 I was incredibly fortunate to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship , so I knocked on the professor ’ s door 10 years later . It was such a privilege to work with this amazing community of scholars .”
Every turn of his career has been an adventure for ophthalmologist Dr Angus Turner . After five years in Melbourne , where he completed his training , he returned to WA to the Lions Eye Institute in 2011 and has spent the best part of the past three years running clinics in the bush .
Several days after Medical Forum spoke to him , he was set to depart on a seven-week road trip starting at Kalgoorlie , through the Goldfields , Pilbara and Kimberley winding up in Kununurra visiting communities and towns along the way with a team that included registrars , optometrists , orthoptists , nurses and liaison workers .
He can hardly contain his excitement .
“ Normally I fly in and fly out on bush trips . It ’ s going to be a nice change to go more slowly and appreciate the vast land and people and communities rather than just barging in for a few hours . I ’ ve always loved
the outdoors , right from school . I ’ ve always jumped on any possibility for a bush trip .”
“ People in the bush are pragmatic and friendly and they seem to be able to see the bigger picture . And ophthalmology is very rewarding . There are a number of treatments and options that really make a big difference quickly .”
But with the bush work , comes the challenge – and reward – of working
��Dr Angus Turner hits the dirt roads on a series of bush clinics .
culturally . The first step on his cultural awareness journey was as a second year medical student wandering around the Goldfields with indigenous pastor Geoffrey Stokes , who took Angus on a 10-day bush adventure . It was Geoffrey who posed to Angus one of his biggest professional conundrums .
“ He told me not to look an Aboriginal person in the eye ; to just be comfortable sitting side by side and staring off in the distance . But that is the direct opposite of what I have to do , and if there are hundreds of patients , I ’ ve got five minutes . Telehealth has the same problem . I have to ask ‘ can I shine this light into your eye ’. It can be a real problem .”
“ In some communities and for some people , their vision is a lower priority than it is for me . Some patients may not want to come to clinic because there are more complex and important things going on in their lives .”
“ I have had patients who – and I love this expression – ‘ I can see a looong way ’ and they wave their hands out into the distance . ‘ And I can see the stars ’. And when I check my objective measure on the chart they can ’ t see a thing and may be legally blind . But that patient is expressing their longway vision and I have to respect that and try not to put my expectations on that person or that community , because it ’ s not really going to work .”
“ It is a great privilege to work in these communities but I have to keep the broader picture in mind that people have family , cultural issues and other health conditions that may be more devastating . Their sight is just one part of the picture .”
“ So it can be tricky to turn up as a visitor into a community with our own idea of patient flow and our own way of doing things and expect everyone to come running . If there is no trust or community acceptance , that visit will be a flop . Engaging with the local community , the Aboriginal health workers , the drivers who collect patients from all over , the clinic staff – everyone in the team is so important .”
“ I ’ m a great advocate for the work of optometrists who have a whole network of visits into smaller communities that specialists don ’ t do . They are a key in identifying cases that we can do something about , and they also support the service by explaining what is happening and following up .”
Team work , when it comes down to it , is what Angus Turner relishes ever since he was a school boy . Rowing in the winning eight in the 1993 Head of the
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