Saint John university looking to bring optometry program to Atlantic Canada

The University of New Brunswick campus in Saint John could get an optometry program in the future.

The second English-language school of optometry in Canada could arrive in New Brunswick in the coming years.

The University of New Brunswick (UNB) and the University of Waterloo have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore a partnership in establishing an optometry school in Saint John. The University of Waterloo currently offers the only English-language optometry school in Canada, while a French program is offered at the Université de Montreal.

“it’s very exciting for many, many reasons,” says Petra Hauf, provost and vice president academic at UNB. “First of all, it is addressing a shortage in our health-care services here in the Atlantic provinces and New Brunswick is part of it. Secondly, it is helping us to further assist the access to these services in our rural communities.”

Doctors of optometry focus on vision and eye care. Officials say with a growing population, more eye care services will be needed.

UNB Saint John feels they are capable of taking on this program thanks to their Integrated Health Initiative, which lead to the New Brunswick Association of Optometrist to reach out about exploring a partnership with Waterloo.

“The excitement is on all levels,” Hauf says. “We have optometrists who are here in the province who are reaching out and asking when they can start teaching for us and helping us to get the program off the ground. We have students who are asking about how or when they can enroll in the program and what kind of admission requirements we will have.”

Dr. Stanley Woo is the director of the School on Optometry and Vision Science at the University of Waterloo. He says there is a longstanding need to provide more opportunities in Canada for students to learn the practice.

He says work is now underway to explore how the program would be rolled out and they are looking at another satellite campus for help.

“Having Dalhousie University Medical School campus at Saint John is a great experience and insight,” says Dr. Woo. “We’re looking forward to their guidance on how to go about making these things happen. But I think most importantly is the willingness to actually spend the time and energy to get it done.”

He says Hauf has already committed to travelled to the Waterloo campus to see the program for herself and to further discussions.

Woo admits this is not the first time an attempt has been made to open a second eye care school in the country, all of which, for one reason or another, have failed. This time, he’s confident things will be different.

“We have various stakeholders who seem to be very interested all in the same moment,” Dr. Woo says. “I think that we recognize that certainly with an aging population in Canada and the increased demands for access to care are critical.”

On average, Waterloo graduates anywhere from 90 to 96 students each year. Dr. Woo adds there are around 150 Canadians who are trained in the U.S. as well due to the limited number of seats on this side of the border.

Dr. Bronwyn Mulherin is an optometrist in Fredericton who eventually returned home after graduating from Waterloo’s program in 2004. She is also a member of the New Brunswick Association of Optometrists, the provincial representative for the Canadian Association of Optometrists, and chaired a committee which led to the MOU.

She is very excited for the potential of an optometry school coming to Atlantic Canada, knowing many graduates tend to stay where they studied.

“We really hope by having a Atlantic program and people not having to go away, they’re more likely to stay in Atlantic Canada,” says Mulherin. “And hopefully be from areas that are less urban and therefore want to go back and practice to in those areas and serve those underserved populations.”

She says Waterloo’s optometry program is highly regarded worldwide and notes most students will complete an undergraduate before the four-year course.

“There is a very clear demand for this training to become doctors of optometry for those seats to be available to Canadian students,” she says.

There is no timeline in place yet as to when the program would begin.

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