BRECON Optometrist Kiran Matharu has returned from a charity funded trip to Romania, where she helped test over 1,500 people’s eyes.

Kiran, of Specsavers Brecon, was part of a group that included an another optician and teaching associate Peter Hong from the school of Optometry and Vision Sciences and five of his students.

They visited the mountainous Vatra Doreni region of north eastern Romania. The remote area is so sparsely populated, it meant many people travelled great distances to be seen by the team.

Together the team set up temporary clinics for five days in churches and a school hall to accommodate their visitors, who do not have readily available healthcare services such as hospitals or opticians.

They gave out pre-glazed spectacles and treated people for dry eye disease – where the eye doesn’t produce enough tears.

Kiran, who has been working at Brecon Specsavers for two years, was able to take part in the trip after £1,100 was raised for her at a charity masquerade ball, attended by over 50 family members and friends. The generous donations meant she could take up the important opportunity to help those in need. One success story showed the team give a three-year-old who desperately needed glasses the chance to see for the first time, as her severe sight problems had never been treated.