{"id":1847,"date":"2021-05-25T11:05:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T01:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/the7.io\/dental\/?post_type=dt_team&#038;p=1847"},"modified":"2025-06-28T11:40:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T01:40:45","slug":"rita-thurston","status":"publish","type":"dt_team","link":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/dt_team\/rita-thurston\/","title":{"rendered":"Rita Thurston"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221; equal_height=&#8221;yes&#8221; content_placement=&#8221;middle&#8221; enable_overlay=&#8221;enable_overlay_value&#8221; overlay_color=&#8221;rgba(0,45,56,0.9)&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1579178724490{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;background-color: #39465d !important;}&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1579179355720{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}&#8221; offset=&#8221;vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-4 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-4 vc_col-sm-offset-0 vc_col-xs-offset-2 vc_col-xs-8&#8243;]<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2344\" src=\"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC09527Crop-300x245.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"698\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC09527Crop-300x245.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC09527Crop-1024x838.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC09527Crop-768x628.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC09527Crop-1536x1257.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC09527Crop-2048x1676.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 698px) 100vw, 698px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1575398300037{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}&#8221;]<div id=\"ultimate-heading-709069d548aec009b\" class=\"uvc-heading ult-adjust-bottom-margin ultimate-heading-709069d548aec009b uvc-3176 accent-subtitle-color\" data-hspacer=\"no_spacer\"  data-halign=\"center\" style=\"text-align:center\"><div class=\"uvc-heading-spacer no_spacer\" style=\"top\"><\/div><div class=\"uvc-main-heading ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='.uvc-heading.ultimate-heading-709069d548aec009b h2'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"desktop:64px;tablet_portrait:42px;mobile_landscape:34px;\",\"line-height\":\"desktop:74px;tablet_portrait:52px;mobile_landscape:44px;\"}' ><h2 style=\"--font-weight:theme;color:#ffffff;\">Rita Thurston<\/h2><\/div><div class=\"uvc-sub-heading ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='.uvc-heading.ultimate-heading-709069d548aec009b .uvc-sub-heading '  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"desktop:42px;tablet_portrait:30px;mobile_landscape:20px;\",\"line-height\":\"desktop:52px;tablet_portrait:40px;mobile_landscape:30px;\"}'  style=\"font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:30px;\">Founder and Senior Optometrist<\/div><\/div><div id=\"ultimate-heading-319369d548aec00ef\" class=\"uvc-heading ult-adjust-bottom-margin ultimate-heading-319369d548aec00ef uvc-8278  uvc-heading-default-font-sizes\" data-hspacer=\"no_spacer\"  data-halign=\"center\" style=\"text-align:center\"><div class=\"uvc-heading-spacer no_spacer\" style=\"top\"><\/div><div class=\"uvc-sub-heading ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='.uvc-heading.ultimate-heading-319369d548aec00ef .uvc-sub-heading '  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"desktop:20px;\",\"line-height\":\"desktop:30px;\"}'  style=\"font-weight:normal;color:#2fcfde;margin-bottom:40px;\">Phone : 07 3801 3551<\/p>\n<p><\/div><\/div><style type=\"text\/css\" data-type=\"the7_shortcodes-inline-css\">.dt-shortcode-soc-icons.soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962 a {\n  margin-right: 10px;\n}\n.dt-shortcode-soc-icons a.soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962 {\n  margin-right: 10px;\n}\n.dt-shortcode-soc-icons a.soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962:last-child {\n  margin-right: 0;\n}\n.dt-shortcode-soc-icons a.soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962:before,\n.dt-shortcode-soc-icons a.soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962:after {\n  padding: inherit;\n}\n.dt-shortcode-soc-icons a.soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962.dt-icon-border-on:before {\n  border:  solid ;\n}\n.dt-shortcode-soc-icons a.soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962.dt-icon-hover-border-on:after {\n  border:  solid ;\n}\n<\/style><div class=\"dt-shortcode-soc-icons  soc-icons-74c410b06c4f55dbdf014c8618579962 soc-icons-center \" ><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1575399260773{padding-top: 80px !important;padding-bottom: 25px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1575399220241{padding-bottom: 60px !important;}&#8221;]<div id=\"ultimate-heading-560069d548aec0263\" class=\"uvc-heading ult-adjust-bottom-margin ultimate-heading-560069d548aec0263 uvc-1548  uvc-heading-default-font-sizes\" data-hspacer=\"no_spacer\"  data-halign=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left\"><div class=\"uvc-heading-spacer no_spacer\" style=\"top\"><\/div><div class=\"uvc-main-heading ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='.uvc-heading.ultimate-heading-560069d548aec0263 h3'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}' ><h3 style=\"--font-weight:theme;margin-bottom:30px;\">Biography<\/h3><\/div><div class=\"uvc-sub-heading ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='.uvc-heading.ultimate-heading-560069d548aec0263 .uvc-sub-heading '  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"font-weight:normal;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"col-xs-12 pad_0\">\n<div class=\"team-member-content\">\n<p>Rita was born in Finland and at the age of 14 moved to Brisbane.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of her interest in optometry, Rita applied to and was accepted by the Queensland Institute of Technology to study optometry.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating from QIT in 1980, Rita had a short stint working for OPSM before, in 1981, starting Rita Thurston Optometrist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"team-member-content\">In 1986, behavioural optometry came to Australia. Behavioural optometry had answers to fixing the children&#8217;s vision problems that had frustrated Rita in helping kids to study and learn better, so in 1987 Rita became a foundation member of the fledgling Australasian College of Behavioural Optometrists.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Rita now has over 40 years expertise in children&#8217;s vision and has helped many thousands of kids to become better students.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Rita has always invested in cutting edge technology in her practice and today, has one of the widest selections of equipment available at any optometry practice.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Rita has always had a passion to help the under privileged and since 2009, has been providing free eye clinics and glasses to the island nation of Vanuatu.<\/div>\n<div>In 2017, Rita, along with her husband Adrian, established South Pacific Eye Clinics (SPECs) as a vehicle to expand their work in Vanuatu.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"team-member-content\"><\/div>\n<p>.<\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1575399248304{padding-bottom: 60px !important;}&#8221;]<div id=\"ultimate-heading-266169d548aec029a\" class=\"uvc-heading ult-adjust-bottom-margin ultimate-heading-266169d548aec029a uvc-9866  uvc-heading-default-font-sizes\" data-hspacer=\"no_spacer\"  data-halign=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left\"><div class=\"uvc-heading-spacer no_spacer\" style=\"top\"><\/div><div class=\"uvc-main-heading ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='.uvc-heading.ultimate-heading-266169d548aec029a h3'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}' ><h3 style=\"--font-weight:theme;margin-bottom:30px;\">Chronology<\/h3><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rita is a Behavioural Optometrist with a special interest in children&#8217;s vision but also working with families and seniors.<br \/>\n She has been in practice for over 43 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","dt_team_category":[],"class_list":["post-1847","dt_team","type-dt_team","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dt_team\/1847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dt_team"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/dt_team"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"dt_team_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ritathurston.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dt_team_category?post=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}