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Indiana University School of Optometry Partners With Saving Sight Indiana to Provide Vision Care to the Poor
| October 22, 2012 12:27 AM |
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—The
Indiana University School of Optometry and
Saving Sight Indiana (formerly Prevent Blindness Indiana) have entered into a collaborative agreement in which IU Optometry will administer Saving Sight Indiana’s programs. “The School of Optometry is committed to sustainable assistance to poor and indigent patients in need of vision correction or treatment of eye disease, which will enable the ‘working poor’ to gain employment and for poor students to function in school,” said School of Optometry Dean Dr. Joseph A. Bonanno. “This transfer of Saving Sight’s major activities to the school enables us to provide this assistance directly, as well as raise the visibility of our efforts as we strive to obtain further financial resources that can sustain this program in perpetuity.”
Saving Sight Indiana provides donated services and eyeglasses to children and adults who meet eligibility criteria based on federal poverty guidelines and lack of insurance to cover vision care. Its Sight for Students voucher program, provided by
VSP, enables eligible students to have a comprehensive vision exam and glasses or medically necessary contact lenses at a participating optometry office. The vouchers are valued at up to $250 per student. Its Gift of Vision program connects eligible adults in need of a vision exam or other vision care to Saving Sight Indiana’s network of more than 120 optometrists, ophthalmologists and vision centers statewide that have agreed to donate their services to qualifying patients.
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