Optometrist

Shaunagh O’Connor

Ania Hartung loves watching people’s faces when they see a photo of the back of their eye.

The Melbourne optometrist has the skill and equipment to look deep into the eye and produce that photo of the rear of an organ that is just slightly smaller in its entirety than a golf ball.

Hartung has been testing eyes for close to 20 years, after deciding what she would do for a career after she was prescribed glasses when in secondary school.

“I first needed glasses in year 10 or 11,” she says.

“I’m short-sighted so I couldn’t see board work and I was deciding then what I wanted to do after I left school, so I figured if I wasn’t seeing well there must be others out there, and that was the starting point of my interest in it.”

Hartung went on to study a four-year optometry course-students now do a five-year course-before working in a rural practice in Gippsland, then working for a year as a volunteer in optometry in Nepal and India.

She now operates out of two practices, one in Strathmore, and one in Sunbury where she has worked for 15 years.

“I see a lot of varied things and the big thing for me in my career is that I love coming in every day, there’s always a different pair of eyes,” Hartung says.

“Everybody’s story is different, they are all here for a different reason and there’s always a challenge, you never know what’s going to walk in next.

“You have to be prepared for anything”.

Hartung’s days involve working with children and adults, prescribing contact lenses and glasses, treating eye disease and working with those who have low — not just impaired — vision and that means suggesting magnifiers or high-powered glasses.

She also liaises with other medical practitioners as she treats her patients.

“If someone comes in with a headache we always ask if they’ve seen a physio or a chiropractor” she says.

“They may not need a new pair of glasses, they may just need a health check.”

Hartung, who has five children aged eight to 13, says she has been at the Sunbury practice long enough to get to know regular patients and “I know all about their family and they know about mine”.

“It’s been very funny with the patients over the years. They’ll come in and say how many (children) have you got now?”

Job Lot
REQUIREMENTS:

Optometrist Tania Hartung says an important pre-requisite for those considering a career in the field is that they enjoy problem-solving.

The main thing is the ability to talk to people and to listen and work out what they might be saying.

“It’s almost like you have to be able to read between the lines in terms of what is actually worrying them at home.

“You might pick up in the conversation on something about their job, and how they are using their eyes, so from that you can suggest safety glasses or prescription sunglasses might be appropriate.

“This job is about talking, listening and being able to solve the problem,” she says.