Higher than expected figures for the Roll of Optometrists Congress

The number of participants at the 37th edition of the Congress of the Roll of Optometrists was higher than expected: over 600 people. This shows the growing importance of the meeting between sector professionals and companies.
In addition to being an opportunity to discuss significant subjects for the sector, the Congress also promoted the contact between the city and end users. On May 1, students, supervised by graduates in optics and optometry, carried out free screenings in Piazza Santo Stefano, which were met with the interest and curiosity of the general public.
“Don’t drive blindfold” was the slogan on May 2. Over 100 medical histories were collected and then studied with highly technological instruments. These totally anonymous histories will be used to create a map of the eyesight condition in Bologna and the rest of Italy.
These were excellent results for a service that Federottica and the Roll wanted to offer citizens. In particular, this service has always characterized the professional work and its “closeness” to the everyday eyesight problems.
The Congress also estimated the world’s sight problems with more specific focus on Italy. This demonstrates the importance of the eye care profession for preventing defects, 42% of which can be treated by wearing suitable eyeglasses. These are the data presented by Simona Minchiotti, Medical Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO), head of the Prevention of Infantile Blindness project supported by the Lions Club International Foundation, and representative of the World Health Organization.
The essential points discussed during the Congress ranged from the inclusion of optometry among the medical professions to the importance of further development of university education. This last aim would increase the professional autonomy of optometrists in ascertaining and quantifying problems and providing the appropriate treatment.
“We must be united” – added president Giulio Velati – “in continuing along this path of progress and innovation without chasing after an illusion. We must open up new frontiers in the profession in the interests of everyone”. Opening up also on the international front, and more specifically in Europe where optometrists play a recognized professional role in no fewer than 22 countries, with an excellent starting point provided by the Tomassini–Saltamartini bill.
Important messages also came from the president of the Roll of Optometrists, Rossella Fonte. “The challenges we face today are real. They are serious and numerous” – the president stated. “Meeting them will be neither easy nor fast, but we will surely be successful….It’s high time to reassert our tenacious spirit, to choose our best story, to foster that precious gift, the noble idea, inherited from professional to professional: the promise of pursuing better recognition for the optometrist. It is thanks to us, to you who have created things, who have taken action and have been daring. We have made promises to many young people and we are extremely proud to have given them the ideal place for developing the science of optometry: the university. Not only to create new jobs, but to lay new foundations for the cultural growth of the profession. It is a duty we owe to ourselves and to future generations.”