Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 11/98) - Each year hundreds of Northerners have their eyes tested by travelling experts who inevitably leave behind prescriptions.

But filling prescriptions in the past has left some Northerners rubbing their eyes in frustration, waiting months for eyewear to arrive.

"The delivery of glasses to patients is painful," said Rob Nevin, the nurse-in-charge of the Kimmirut Health Centre. "It can take a minimum of two months up to six months."

Nevin said the waiting periods for glasses has become so bad that they want out of the program.

"The nurses in our community are stuck. At the present time my employer in the Baffin handles the money and they send the glasses directly to the health centre and we hand them out for their convenience," he said.

"Ideally, I would like to see us out of the loop. People are always coming to us saying, 'Where's my glasses, where's my glasses? We're waiting,'" said Nevin.

"It's not up to me. Here's the phone number, call and make inquiries to voice your dissatisfaction."

It's a Northern fact of life that some people who get new glasses break them soon after their purchase, he added. People are then forced to send them out for repairs, which could take at least a month.

"For aboriginal groups the glasses are free but does free mean you have to wait six months to get a new pair of glasses? Your prescription could change in that time if you have problems," said Nevin.

"Or if you have only one pair of glasses and you break them then you have to walk around with mounds of glue on your glasses or go without until they can get repaired."

Sarah Maniapik of Baffin Optical in Iqaluit referred questions about long waiting periods for glasses in Baffin communities to her manager at Yellowknife's Polar Vision.

Glenna Zelinski, manager of Polar Vision and presiding manager over Baffin Optical, said she did not know much about turnaround times for glasses in the Eastern Arctic.

"I'm a little uncomfortable with this," she said. "I have a contract that sits within these regions."

She added, however, that her company is doing its best to meet the needs of Northerners.

"We're always trying to see how we can quicken the pace as far as making the eye wear in the North. Our store is the only store in the NWT that has an in-store lab, cutting machines, and most of our cuts are done within Yellowknife."

Zelinski said it is unusual that it would take six to eight months to get glasses in communities.

"It's hard to believe. Usually if there is some problem we try to get a hold of the nursing station to get their help."

She said it can take one to three weeks to get glasses, depending on processing. If it's going through government, there's additional processing, she said. A prescription form has to go though bureaucratic channels before they see the form again to create glasses.