Helen Keller International recognizes unmet needs for vision care among low-income communities in Saint Paul and Minneapolis
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Today, on World Sight Day, the global health charity Helen Keller International began delivering services in schools in Saint Paul and Minneapolis to help improve the vision of vulnerable children. Recognizing the unmet needs for vision care among vulnerable, at-risk youth in the U.S., the organization is expanding its 24-year-old ChildSight program to reach children in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, starting in Saint Paul.
“Not knowing what the future was going to bring was really scary.” – Dr. Jay Pravda
After leaving his house by boat and seeing his office under water in a drone video, VSP Network Doctor Jay Pravda, O.D., was unsure of what the future would hold. “It was just an awful feeling not knowing where we were going to live, what I was going to do, and how we were going to pay for everything,” he said, reflecting on his angst after the storm.
Goal to help one million people in need reached two years early thanks to partnership with VSP network doctors
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RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., August 1, 2018 /3BL Media/ – “I was 9 years old and went to my school nurse because I was having trouble seeing the board,” said Jenna Lancaster. “The nurse knew of a program from VSP that could help our family with getting the eye exam and glasses, something that provided my mom a sense of relief because she was worried she couldn’t afford to get them on our own. The day I received my glasses, my entire world and performance in school totally changed.
Year-long effort brings vision care, eyewear, clothing and fashion accessories to communities in need
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RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., June 25, 2018 /3BL Media/– A charitable collaboration, first developed through Hurricane Harvey outreach, is now taking formal shape in a year-long effort to provide access to comprehensive eye exams, prescription glasses, beauty and fashion items where they are needed most.
Outreach tour connects VSP network doctors and communities in need of eye exams and glasses in three cities
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RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., March 12, 2018 /3BL Media/ – Echo Green has worn glasses all her adult life, but she had not had an eye exam in 10 years. Today, she’s grateful for an updated prescription that includes bifocal lenses. “Your eyes are precious, they are the only ones you’re going to have so you have to take care of them the best you can,” said Green.
Survey reveals parents’ confusion about when and how often kids should visit the eye doctor for a comprehensive eye exam
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August 10, 2017 /3BL Media/ - As much as 80 percent of learning a child does is visual, with children spending most of the school day reading, looking at a blackboard, and using laptops and tablets. However, come back-to-school season, parents overlook one of the most critical learning tools – their child’s eyes.
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., March 30, 2017 /3BL Media/- San Francisco resident Mounir Ebdellaoi has depended on his glasses to see since age 14. Ebdellaoi lives in one of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods and was recently mugged and his eyewear was destroyed in the altercation. “You don’t know what it’s like not to see,” Ebdellaoi explained. “I could not function without glasses, psychologically even, not just crossing the street and all that, but you just don’t feel the same. You’ve got to be able to see.”
PT Freeport Indonesia’s Partnership Fund for Community Development (LPMAK) funds a floating healthcare clinic boat. The boat recently visited the coastal villages of Mimika in the Timika Regency of Papua, Indonesia, to provide health services in observance of World Sight Day (October 12).
Essilor International joins the Business Call to Action with a commitment to expand access to vision care in developing countries
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NEW YORK, August 1, 2016 /3BL Media/ - Essilor International,the world’s leading ophthalmic optics company with a mission to improve lives by improving sight, has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with a pledge to create 40,000 primary eye care workers in underserved regions by 2020. The company expects its broadening inclusive business models to improve health outcomes, productivity and wellbeing for more than 50 million low-income people in the next four years.
VSP Global’s innovation lab (“The Shop”) was created in December, 2012, to innovate with external entrepreneurs and partners. When the company announced it would solicit ideas and involvement from employees, it got a surprising response.
“Nobody came forward,” said Jim McGrann, CEO of VSP Global. “People were excited by the project concepts, but knew they couldn’t succeed as after-hours hobby projects.”
