Give Kids Sight Day: And What a Day It Was!

On Saturday, November 21, 2009, The Eye Institute participated in the first “Give Kids Sight Day” (GKSD). Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), a child advocacy group, invited The Eye Institute (TEI) to be part of a city-wide coalition to address the unmet vision care needs of thousands of children in Philadelphia. The event was created to increase public awareness about the importance of good vision and the role it plays to ensure academic success for children and adolescents.

After studying the state of children’s vision care in Philadelphia during the 2008-2009 academic year , PCCY discovered more than 13,000 children who failed the state-mandated vision screening (primarily through the work of school nurses) never received comprehensive eye care. As a result of this discovery, PCCY created a vision-care coalition. The coalition represents a consortium of local organizations interested in providing vision care services to children.

The public response on “Give Kids Sight Day” was incredible. Even before the doors opened, families eager for services lined up at The Eye Institute’s Oak Lane facility. “We brought 13 kids with us and about five parents because a number of kids in my church needed eyeglasses and quite a number of children don’t have insurance,” Carolyn Johnson, a resident of Collingdale, Pa., said.

Children who attended received a free vision screening. If the child failed the screening, a refraction (testing for eyeglasses) was performed and two pairs of eyeglasses were ordered. All services and eyeglasses were free to those who attended.

On “GKSD,” eye care services were provided at The Eye Institute and Wills Eye Hospital. The crowds at both locations were quite large, demonstrating the great unmet vision care needs for Philadelphia’s children. More than 400 children were seen at The Eye Institute that day; 90 were recommended for follow up care; and over 330 pairs of eyeglasses were ordered.

Although many families waited several hours for care, all were thankful for the free services. “It wasn’t just about our children and our family. When you find an event like this happening in today’s economy, you try to get the information out for other children as well,” Johnson said.

Even though the event was supposed to end at 2 p.m., the number of children needing care required TEI’s team to work past 6 p.m. “The wonderful public response made our entire team feel good about the great work we accomplished that day,” Dr. Susan Oleszewski, Vice President for Patient Care Services, was quick to note.

PCCY expects “Give Kids Sight Day” will become an annual event. The Eye Institute and its entire vision care team look forward to being part of this great community partnership in 2010