Four California projects awarded grants to help kids see better

Optometry Cares® – The AOA Foundation and the American Optometric Association have awarded 2014 Healthy Eyes Healthy People® State Association Grants to all four California projects that applied. COA congratulates, and is honored to have supported, the grant winners in the application process: Children Eye Screening (MEND Eye Care Clinic), Free Eye Screenings/Free Glasses for Kids, Eye-Max for Kids! and Marshall B. Ketchum University’s Children’s Vision Initiative. Grant applicants were asked to focus on "Increas[ing] the proportion of children aged 18 years and under who have received an eye exam by an optometrist over the next 12 months." 

Below is a summary of the four winning projects:

•    Children Eye Screening (MEND Eye Care Clinic): MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity), a San Fernando Valley-based organization dedicated to breaking the bonds of poverty by providing basic human needs and a pathway to self-reliance, will use the grant to replace some of the vision clinic’s equipment donated more than a decade ago to permit a more effective comprehensive evaluation of the patient. The award-winning vision clinic, begun at the suggestion of the COA San Fernando Valley Optometric Society, has grown from a closet-sized operation open a half day per week to a large, two-lane facility operating two days per week. It is also an externship site for fourth-year optometry students that annually serves more than 700 low-income individuals with no medical insurance. 

•    Free Eye Screenings/Free Glasses for Kids: The grant will be used to underwrite the engagement of doctors of optometry to conduct free vision exams and provide free glasses to children attending William Green Elementary School, a pre-K-5 school serving predominantly low-income children in Lawndale. Working in partnership with the Lawndale Elementary School District, the Lawndale Rotary Club and doctors of optometry from the COA South Bay Optometric Society, free screenings will be offered to the 777 pupils representing a wide spectrum of racial/ethnic groups. Those found to have clinical indications will be referred for more comprehensive tests conducted by doctors of optometry on campus using the Vision to Learn mobile clinic. Those determined to need eyeglasses will receive a free pair; if indicated, children will be referred to the private offices of doctors optometry for free eye health exams.

•    Eye-Max for Kids!: The goals of this distinctive program are: 1) to promote the importance of vision and ocular health for academic success among the young student population, 2) increase the number of pediatric eye exams, and 3) to generally promote awareness that pediatric vision insurance coverage is one of the ACA essential health benefits required to be offered beginning this year. Through collaboration with Los Nietos School District, K-3 children attending its three elementary schools will be encouraged to obtain a comprehensive eye exam performed by a doctor of optometry or ophthalmologist within a six month period. The first K-3 classroom at each of the schools in which all its pupils have the exam will be rewarded with a free, private 3-D IMAX movie party. For those children who do not have access to vision care, the project will work with the school and assist parents in obtaining the Affordable Care Act (ACA)-mandated pediatric vision essential benefit coverage for their child(ren) through Covered California. The grant funds will underwrite the costs for the IMAX theatre rental, student transportation and refreshments. 

•    Marshall B. Ketchum University’s Children’s Vision Initiative: A primary barrier identified by AOA for children who fail a vision screening in obtaining a comprehensive eye examination is transportation. The Children’s Vision Program, initiated by Marshall B. Ketchum University’s Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO), seeks to eliminate that obstacle by providing free transportation for these at-risk children to the SCCO clinic for a timely comprehensive eye examination conducted by doctors of optometry. SCCO has established a partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District, where 80 percent of the students are English learners and 90 percent are on reduced or free lunch programs, with the goal of providing more than 1,000 free comprehensive exams and glasses as needed to children from eight elementary schools. The grant will help finance the costs for transportation to the clinic and the development of targeted vision care and eye health educational materials.

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