Prevent Blindness America, VisionServe Alliance, OneSight join to seek vision strategies, tactics

Key Points

Chicago-Prevent Blindness America (PBA) has joined with VisionServe Alliance (VSA) and OneSight, a Luxottica Group Foundation, to promote vision health issues.

First, PBA and VSA have entered into a memorandum of understanding to address wide-ranging eye-care needs.

Hugh R. Parry, president and chief executive officer, PBA, said, "By working in partnership with [VSA], we hope to combine our efforts to address prevention services as well as the needs of those already living with visual impairment and blindness."

"By working together at the national, state, and local levels, we can further advance the critical mission of our organizations to raise awareness at both the public and government level about the importance of the continuum of eye-health services, including prevention education, clinical interventions, and vision rehabilitation," said Roxann Mayros, president and chief executive officer, VSA.

PBA also has partnered with OneSight, a Luxottica Group Foundation, to provide free eyeglass frames and prescription lenses. PBA's "Healthy Eyes Eyeglass Program" provides patients with voucher cards that can be used through the OneSight program at any participating LensCrafters, Sears Optical, Target Optical, or select Pearle Vision locations.

"Thanks to the generous support from OneSight and the Luxottica Group, we are now able to help give the gift of sight to many in underserved populations," said Hugh R. Parry of PBA.

According to a 2007 PBA study, Americans aged more than 40 years spend approximately $5.51 billion annually on direct medical costs for outpatient services associated with refractive error. Currently, more than 45 million Americans aged more than 40 years have myopia or hyperopia.

In addition, more than 12.1 million school-age children have some form of vision problem, yet only one in three children in America have received eye-care services before the age of 6, according to the CDC.

For more information about PBA or PBA's Healthy Eyes Eyeglass Program, go to http://www.preventblindness.org/. To learn more about VisionServe Alliance, visit http://www.visionservealliance.org/.