The Fred Hollows Foundation

Eye Institute are most proud of our visionaries’ commitment to giving back to our community and deserving charities.
Just one of these initiatives is the Fred Hollows Foundation NZ, of which we are proud to have our own Dr Nick Mantell as the longest-serving trustee for the foundation, and Dr Jay Meyer who has spent his time working as a research fellow, passing on his research and knowledge.

The purpose of the foundation is to carry on the vision of NZ’s legendary Professor, Fred Hollow.
Fred’s vision is; “of a world where no one is needlessly blind and works to end avoidable blindness in developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Pacific.”

Every year through their surgical outreach program, the foundation trains eye specialists to perform thousands of eye-saving surgeries to people in need in the Pacific Islands and Papa New Guinea. In addition to this they provide education, research and work to strengthen health systems in 3rd world countries.

For the time that Dr Nick Mantell has been with the Fred Hollows Foundation NZ, they have established training facilities in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, smaller training facilities in Papa New Guinea and newly established facilities in Vanuatu and Tonga.
Through these facilities Fred Hollows NZ trains local Eye care nurses, and doctors to provide ongoing services to local people in need. In 2018 the Foundation celebrated graduations for the first ever permanent eye doctors in Vanuatu and Tonga, and the Port Villa national eye centre opened in February 2019. This year for the first time the clinical director for Fred Hollows NZ is a local doctor who was trained in the Pacific. This was seen as an important step toward sustainable Eye care in the Pacific region.

Fred Hollows International has restored sight to over 2 million people over the last 25 years.
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ has:
• Performed over 60,000 eye surgeries in the Pacific
• Trained 277 Pacific eye doctors and nurses
• Funded 7 eye clinics throughout the Pacific
The foundation still has a long way to go to achieve its mission, four out of five people in the Pacific Islands and Papa New Guinea who develop degenerative eye conditions still go blind when their condition is preventable or treatable and we believe that no one should go blind from avoidable causes.

If you’d love to support the Fred Hollows Foundation NZ on their mission to save peoples sight, you can do so here https://www.hollows.org.nz/donate