I am pleased to introduce the second July edition of Parallel Vision. I am the Orthoptistes de la Communauté Européene (OCE) also known as the European Orthoptic Committee representative for BIOS and in 2017 appointed the OCE secretary. As a member of BIOS you have the benefit of also being a member of the OCE. The OCE is the spokesperson for the orthoptic profession on European topics and liaise with European government bodies and organisations and national orthoptic societies. It has three working groups: the education committee, European affairs, communication and international relations.
The OCE holds an annual meeting where representatives from each country’s orthoptic society (association) participate. Members of the OCE are France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Czech Republic, Luxemburg, and Malta. Poland is applying to become member.
At the annual OCE meetings orthoptic topics considered relevant at European level are discussed. The OCE held their 30th meeting in Nuremberg, Germany, Friday 9.-Saturday 10. May 2019. To mark the 30th anniversary national orthoptic society’s presidents and previous OCE representatives were invited. It was a lovely celebration with gala dinner on the Friday evening and discussions with presidents on the Saturday morning.
The OCE enables shared best practise with other European colleagues and can support BIOS members who wish to seek work in different European countries or advise on recruiting orthoptists from different European countries. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact BIOS and I will be able to answer or take your question forward to the OCE: http://euro-orthoptics.com/oce/
On another note, the international orthoptic association (IOA) congress takes place in Liverpool on the 20.-23. June 2020. There is an interesting scientific and educational programme. Submission of abstracts is open until 27th November 2019. Please consider if you or your department have an abstract you can submit: http://www.ioacongress.org/
Anne Bjerre, BIOS OCE representative
OCE secretary
