Red Deer's Lindsay Thurber inducts optometrist Dr. Heather Cowie into Hall of Fame
The 2000 graduate returned to address the Class of 2027 before being honoured for a career spanning global eye care and community development.
Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School has inducted former student Dr. Heather Cowie into its Hall of Fame, recognizing her international work in eye care and community development. Cowie graduated from the Red Deer school in 2000, after serving as president of her graduation executive and helping raise funds to build a school in Nicaragua.
After studying biological sciences at the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary, Cowie spent a year volunteering in Central America, where she taught in a converted pigsty in Guatemala and worked alongside a visiting eye care team. Witnessing a blind man regain his sight through donated glasses pushed her toward a career in optometry.
She earned her doctor of optometry from the University of Waterloo, where she founded a chapter of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity, and later led eye care missions to Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala. She went on to complete a master of public health at Johns Hopkins University, specializing in international health.
Cowie now owns Airdrie Family Eye Doctors and founded CVC Guatemala under Canadian Vision Care, an organization supporting eye care access and community initiatives. During her induction address, she encouraged current Lindsay Thurber students to use their talents to help others, telling them, 'doing nothing is a choice.'
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