College Newsletter June 2020

Indigenous People's Day and notice to non-practicing registrants

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day. This is a day for all Canadians to recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. The Canadian Constitution recognizes these three groups as Aboriginal peoples, also known as Indigenous peoples. Discover more about Canada's National Indigenous Peoples Day.
 

CCP Case Study: Indigenous Cultural Safety

In 2017, every healthcare regulatory college in BC signed a declaration of commitment to Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility with the First Nations Health Authority. We know from testimonies of Indigenous people accessing healthcare that racism, discrimination and violence toward them is prevalent and often results in traumatizing experiences and receiving improper care.

Opticianry is not exempt from this.  The following quotes were taken from a focus group organised by the First Nations Health Authority in 2019:

“When we choose glasses, the optician tells us that we can only get certain frames and directs us to the ‘Indian Affairs’ glasses, which are ugly. It is an embarrassing experience and it makes us want to walk out of the store”
Stellat’en Focus Group, March 26th, 2019

“I haven’t seen a vision provider in a long time, because of cultural safety issues. I don’t have trust for opticians”
Esquimalt Focus Group, February 21st, 2019

Part of our commitment is to communicate to our registrants what we have learned through our own journey of cultural safety and humility and share ways in which they can be more responsible as individual practitioners in combatting the systemic racism that exists within healthcare.

Incorporating your learning into your Continuing Competency Program is a great way to do this and there are many ways to make this happen. 

Find Out How
 
 

Online CCP Learning Sessions

To help registrants better understand the Continuing Competency Program (CCP), we are pleased to announce we will be providing more information sessions, where we will take you through the program requirements. Given the physical distancing restrictions currently in place, we will be taking our workshops online. 

We have scheduled the next two sessions for the dates and times below:

  • Monday, June 15
    3:00pm - 4:30pm
     
  • Thursday, June 25
    9:00am - 10:30am

Space for each session will be limited so you will need to RSVP if you are interested in joining. Please email Christopher Dodge to reserve a spot in one of the two sessions.

We will be scheduling further sessions in the coming months, and hope to have recorded versions available in the near future as well.
 

Notice to non-practicing registrants

If you have been registered as non-practicing for a while, or you recently renewed as non-practicing due to COVID-19 workplace restrictions, please be reminded that you must change your status back to practicing before returning to work.

You can do this by logging into your online profile on our website and selecting the change status tab. This is not optional. To return to practice, your criminal record check must be valid and you will be required to pay the difference between your non-practicing fee and the renewal fee for your designation. You can review the full fee schedule here.

We are offering payment plans for registrants who have been affected by loss of earnings due to COVID-19. To find out more, please email Meagan Marsh to submit a payment plan prior to submitting your change of staus request.  
 

Get certified in automated refraction

Automated refraction is a restricted practice and requires a Licensed Optician to obtain a specific certification in order to carry out the work. The Northern Alberta Institue of Technology (NAIT) runs a refraction course that meets BC's requirements for certification and needs a minimum of 10 students to sign up in order to provide the training.

The course cost is $1250 and you will be required to add automated refraction to your registration with COBC in order to practice once qualified. The cost of registration is $50.

If you are not currently certified to perform automated refraction but are interested in training, please complete the survey linked below. If there is enough interest to run the program, we will contact you with further information. 

I'm interested
 

COVID-19 resources

As BC begins to slowly open up and lockdown restrictions ease, many of our registrants are returning to work. We have consolidated all of the resources we have avaialble to you on our COVID-19 resource page. Please refer to these resources if you have any questions about the best way to proceed at this time, and for guidance and information on how to return to work safely.
 

Did you know?

If you successfully complete an automated refracting program you MUST register or upgrade your licence with COBC before you can legally practice independent automated refractions. Read more about automated refraction here.

College of Opticians of BC operates on the traditional, ancestral and unceded Coast Salish territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

Unsubscribing from this email will revoke your consent to receive email correspondance from us as outlined in Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). We will no longer be able to send you important reminders pertaining to your license which may affect your registration with the College of Opticians of BC. Please contact us if you have any questions.