Dementia-friendly eyecare, everywhere

Dementia Australia Research Foundation mid-career fellow Dr Marianne Coleman has taken her dementia-friendly eyecare research to Indonesia.

Marianne is a three-time Dementia Australia Research Foundation grant recipient whose research is addressing a problem that's often overlooked: making routine eyecare accessible for people living with dementia.

That work recently took Marianne to Indonesia, where she trained 86 optometrists, low-vision therapists and eye health nurses to adapt eye examinations for people living with dementia.

The resources Marianne developed through her research grants are also reaching a global audience. They're already hosted on the World Health Organization’s Global Dementia Observatory Knowledge Exchange Platform. Now, they're now being translated into Bahasa Indonesia.

Marianne will now start working with Indonesian carers to better understand what they know about dementia and eye health and what support they need. 

“It’s no good doing a research project, then letting all of that knowledge sit there – it has to be helping people.”

Well said, Marianne!