Helen Keller Int’l offers free eye exams
The Helen Keller International’s New York Vision Program (NYVP) will conduct free eye examinations for families with children at events on Friday, Aug. 16, at the Abe Stark Older Adult Center @ Millennium Development (10315 Farragut Road), and on Friday, August 30th with City Councilmember Crystal Hudson’s Back to School Event at Jackie Robinson School, 46 Mckeever Place, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.—both in Brooklyn.
The events are part of the NYVP’s efforts to make eye health care available for more New York City residents, particularly those who normally forego vision tests because they can’t afford them.
In an emailed Q&A with the AmNews, Melinda Birks, the program operations officer for Helen Keller International’s U.S. Vision Program, and her team explained how their free vision screenings, eye exams, eyeglasses, and referral program works.
AmNews: What will the vision screening entail?
Melinda Birks: Helen Keller International partners with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty. By delivering the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition, and clear vision, we help millions of people create lasting change in their own lives. Helen Keller’s U.S. Vision team helps eliminate the primary barriers to vision care for vulnerable children and adults: access and expense. Since the program’s start in Washington Heights in 1994, it has expanded to several states across the country where the need is highest. Last year alone, Helen Keller screened nearly 114,000 individuals, of [whom] 67% needed and were provided with no-cost prescription glasses.
AmNews: Why would—or should—anyone who hasn’t been screened in the last year or more do a vision screening?
Birks: As many as 4 million children and 12 million adults in the United States suffer from impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error. Combining refractive error––nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism––with more serious eye disorders such as amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (eye turn), vision loss is the single most prevalent disabling condition in the United States. Left untreated, vision impairments can affect a person’s social life and relationships, a child’s academic future, an adult’s ability to provide for their family.
AmNews: Are there individuals who are scared of vision tests? Are there good reasons to be
scared of vision tests?
Birks: Helen Keller’s vision model is simple, flexible, and cost-effective. Services are on site at no cost to the children or adults. Participants are first screened by Helen Keller’s vision team
using the Snellen eye chart. Those who fail the screening—typically about a quarter of
participants—receive a refractive error assessment from a licensed optometrist. If the person
needs glasses, they are able to choose from a variety of frame styles. Their stylish,
tailor-made prescription glasses are provided to the participant, at the same site, within three
to four weeks, all free of charge.
A small percentage of individuals may have symptoms of a more complicated eye condition and are then referred to a local eye care provider partner for a full eye examination.
AmNews: Do you know what percentage of New Yorkers don’t regularly get their eyes checked? Why is it important to do so?
Birks: Nearly two out of three adults in the U.S. report having vision problems. Although refractive error is easily addressed with a pair of prescription eyeglasses, many families in New York City –where as many as one in five people live in poverty –cannot afford or easily access an eye exam or a pair of prescription eyeglasses. Barriers to access for this essential care include cost, insurance, transportation, and long wait times at local clinics. In an informal survey
conducted by Helen Keller Int’l with low-income clients nationwide, nearly two in three reported that they could not access an annual visit to the optometrist.
AmNews: Who are you looking to screen? What age groups? Why?
Birks: Helen Keller’s vision team meets children and vulnerable adults where they are––in schools, community-based service programs, homeless shelters, and public housing. By providing services on site, at no cost to the individual, we can help alleviate stresses like transportation, cost, insurance, and time to find and visit a doctor.
Helen Keller’s licensed optometrists provide onsite vision screenings. Participants needing glasses can pick out their own frames from a selection of fashionable and trendy options, and within weeks, those needing vision correction are provided with no-cost prescription glasses.For more information, visit Helen Keller’s website, https://helenkellerintl.org/, Helen Keller’s U.S. vision work, https://helenkellerintl.org/us-vision/, or impact of timely vision care: https://helenkellerintl.org/our-stories/helping-people-see-true-potential/.
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