BY AUSTIN LYNCH

Deciding on a career can often be very difficult for young people.

With so many potential jobs, careers and profession out there it can be difficult to know what career path to choose or what road to go down.

But for some people, like Optician Alison Brand, she always had an idea of what sort of work she'd like to do.

"I wore contacts from when I was about 12 years of age and I was always curious what the optician's job entailed" explains Alison who chats to us from one of the consultation rooms in McBride and McCreesh Opticians in Enniskillen, where she works.

Alison says that she always liked the Science subjects at school, and thought she would like to do either optometry or dentistry. And although she didn't want to do medicine she also knew she wanted to work in a 'caring in the community' type of profession.

After leaving the Collegiate in Enniskillen Alison was offered a place on the Optometry course at Cardiff University, which she accepted.

"The initial degree is three years which is followed by a professional year where you work in a practice" Alison explains.

"I worked here with Brendan (McCreesh) for the year and then had to sit my professional exams at the end of that year."

During their professional year optometry graduates are able to work with patients while the practice optician will act their supervisor.

"During the professional year you are assessed four times before, in August, you sit your professional exams."

Asked about the professional year Alison said it is a very tough year because as well as working in a practice 9 - 5 you have to go home and study, which she admits was quite hard to do.

Alison is now qualified a year and (including her professional year) has been working in McBride and McCreesh Opticians for about two years now.

"Brendan asked me to stay on after I passed my exams and I was only too happy to stay here. After your pre-reg. you certainly don't know it all and I was happy to learn (about the job) in a place where I feel comfortable" says Alison.

After completing the three year optometry degree graduates must find a practice to work in for their professional year. And, although it isn't always guaranteed, graduates may often find there is a job at the end of the year for them in that practice.

Alison believes that opticians, such as Brendan, who work with optometry graduates during their professional year are 'investing in the future' of not only their practice but of the profession itself.

So what does a normal working day consist off for a practice optician?

Alison says her day is divided up into thirty minute appointments in which she would carry out routine eye examinations and work with contact lenses.

Alison explains how by looking into the back of people's eyes they can identify systemic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. There are also numerous eye conditions, such as glaucoma, which an optician can identify during an eye exam.

"Glaucoma is a hereditary eye disease and everyone over 40 who has a close relative with the disease is entitled to a free eye test every year" says Alison.

Alison says that one of the best parts of her work is working with children and working with people who have contact lenses.

Talking about her job she says, "There is a good structure to the working day and working with every patient is different.

"One appointment could be a fifty year old man with an eye condition while next you could be working with a child with perfect sight.

"You have to be sympathetic to each patient and adapt each eye examination to the level of the particular patient."

While the majority of an optician's work will be practice based the work will occasionally involve calling out to see patients who are unable to leave their homes. Known as domiciliary visits Alison explains that these are often to nursing homes to people who are either elderly or unwell.

For those who mightn't have been to an optician's recently, things have gone very hi-tech with electronic eye charts and now some practices have all their records on a computer database.

"We also have a FUNDUS camera, which can take an excellent digital photograph of the back of the eye, in the same way a dentist might take an X-ray of your mouth. We can then keep these on file and compare it with pictures taken at future visits."

A career as an optician is certainly a busy one but one which Enniskillen Optician Alison Brand greatly enjoys.