“Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.” – Nikos Kazantzakis
Did you know that the top causes of visual impairment include uncorrected refractive errors, cataracts and Age-related Macular Degeneration? It’s why Prevent Blindness Texas recommends that everyone receive a comprehensive eye exam through dilated pupils regularly as recommended by your eye doctor. Sight preservation and blindness prevention are always the top priorities at Prevent Blindness Texas.
Eye health is a critical component of living a quality life and improving one’s overall health. It is difficult to imagine life without vision, but out of 28 million Texans, six million will experience the impact of severe vision loss by 2050. Early detection and prevention are key to change this! Our goal this year is to serve more than 50,000 individuals across Texas who need help accessing vision care and services. We know that almost 80% of vision loss can be prevented. For this reason, we are strategically focused on expanding our network by screening more Texans, certifying more adult vision screeners, and leveraging existing and potential partners to help us fulfill our mission to prevent blindness and preserve sight.
Client Spotlight….
Meet Rolanda. PBT was able to help restore her sight with a new pair of eyeglasses through our eyeglass referral program. She says,
“Prevent Blindness took very good care of my eye care. I love my glasses and all the customer service I received from the doctor appointment to picking up glasses was awesome. Thank you Prevent Blindness Texas, very much.”
#EYEThankYou Community Partners
Our amazing community partners are organizations who work every day to make our community stronger and help PBT reach our goals and serve as many people as we can. Below are just a few of the examples of community partnerships that help us work together to make our goals a reality.
Every quarter, we take time to recognize and thank our wonderful volunteers. This quarter, Prevent Blindness Texas would like to recognize Kelly Haight and his team at Eyetopia and Integrated Eye Care Collaborative (I.E.C.C.). Kelly Haight is currently the Director of Operations for I.E.C.C., Eyetopia TPA, LLC and Eyetopia, Inc. located in Sattler, TX.
Kelly is more than a helping hand as he also serves as Vice Chair on our Board of Directors. Kelly and team formed their partnership with Prevent Blindness Texas in 2017. Over the last two years, Kelly and team has shown support by attending fundraising events, becoming certified adult and children vision screeners, and volunteering/performing vision screenings on our behalf. We would like to express a tremendous amount of gratitude to Kelly Haight, Eyetopia, and I.E.C.C. Thank you for your time, support and generosity!
Partnership Spotlight….
Soul’s Harbor is a recovery community in Dallas, TX that helps homeless men and individuals who are suffering from addiction. Our partnership with them started over 3 years ago when employee Joshua Hill reached out to us about getting assistance for their clients. At the time, neither one of us thought that this would be the foundation of an amazing partnership. Since that day, we have hosted vision screenings with follow up eye exam vouchers twice a year at their location for their clients and partners. Collectively, we have provided vision screenings, eye exam vouchers and glasses to almost 500 clients.
It is our hope to continue our partnership with Soul’s Harbor. They have showed us that there is still a great need for eye health services in our community. They have supported our efforts by providing these services to every single client that walks through their door. Because of that, we have been able to make a difference in people’s lives and for that we are so very thankful. Thank you to Soul’s Harbor for all their hard work and dedication!