IN AN EFFORT to raise awareness of homelessness and provide accessible eye care within the local community, a store partner from Specsavers Park Centre braved a chilly autumn night to mark World Homeless Day with Simon Community’s One Big Sleep Out at Stormont.
Ahead of the event, the team also held their second out-of-hours clinic for people experiencing homelessness in the area, officially launching the second year of the initiative, which has seen every Simon Community accommodation service in Northern Ireland undertake a clinic with their local Specsavers store.
In partnership with Simon Community, the clinic held at the Falls Road Accommodation Service welcomed 12 residents for a sight test, with Matthew McKenny, ophthalmic director at Specsavers Park Centre delivering seven pairs of glasses to those who needed a prescription.
As part of a nationwide campaign for World Homeless Day, which took place on October 10, Specsavers Park Centre is one of over 100 Specsavers stores across the UK and Ireland to hold a clinic for people affected by any form of homelessness to make use of their services.
This clinic was part of Specsavers’ wider homelessness programme and mission to improve access to eye care for people experiencing homelessness or facing other barriers to care – whether financial, residential or not being eligible for NHS support.
Matthew McKenny, ophthalmic director at Specsavers Park Centre said: "The partnership Specsavers has developed with Simon Community in Northern Ireland has provided so many opportunities for us to raise funds and awareness for the charity, while also providing accessible healthcare to people experiencing homelessness in our own communities.
"I was honoured to spend the night at Stormont with colleagues from other Specsavers stores in Northern Ireland, and the senior management team. It was a worthwhile and very humbling experience, for which we raised over £200 as a team.
"The clinic we ran at the Simon Community’s Falls Road accommodation service is our second, and launched the second year of the initiative. We have successfully tested 24 people in our local community who are experiencing homelessness, and dispensed free glasses to 18 people who previously have not had access to such healthcare services.
"Specsavers as a business, and as a local team within the West Belfast community, is committed to making healthcare accessible to everyone. I really hope that this helps raise awareness of the issue and the current barriers people are facing."
Rebekah Barr from Simon Community added: “We’re proud to celebrate the first full year of our partnership with Specsavers, whose dedicated teams and experts have been providing eye testing and dispensing services to people experiencing homelessness across Northern Ireland.
“By reaching people where they are, these clinics break down the barriers that often prevent vulnerable communities from accessing eye care. With 83 per cent of the people tested found to need prescription lenses, the impact this service makes is clear. As we begin the second year of clinic delivery, we look forward to continuing this partnership and helping even more people access essential eye care.”
As well as running eye care clinics across stores and accommodation services outside of World Homeless Day, Specsavers also collaborates with Crisis, Simon Community, Big Issue and other homelessness services to create long-term solutions to remove healthcare barriers.
Specsavers is also calling for changes to government policy to remove unnecessary barriers that make it difficult for people experiencing homelessness to access the eye and ear care they need. Long term plans include influencing policy and systems, so people affected have access to free ear checks, eye tests and glasses, and replacement glasses if broken, lost or stolen.
