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Webinar Opportunity:
Helping Families Remove Barriers to Eye Care
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Join us for “Closing the Gap: Helping Families Remove Barriers to Eye Care After Receiving Referrals from Vision Screenings” on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, from 2 - 3:30 p.m. ET.
Vision Screenings, confirmatory eye examinations, and treatments including eyeglasses help many children to be “learning ready.” Studies have shown children demonstrate improvement in academic progress, an increase in focus during lessons, an increase in participation and classroom interaction, and an improvement in confidence and behavior. Yet, only about 5% to 50% of children participate in an eye exam after receiving a referral from a vision screening. This webinar will describe two approaches to closing the gap between vision screening referrals and follow-up eye exams; provide tips for creating a comprehensive, systematic approach to help close the gap; and introduce the “Small Steps to Eye Care Action Plan: A Conversation Guide” to help identify and address individualized family barriers to eye care.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the importance of an eye examination and treatment, if necessary, after receiving a referral from a vision screening.
- Describe 1 strategy for helping ensure children wear their prescription glasses.
- List 3 strategies to help resolve barriers to eye care.
Who Should Attend?
Anyone who follows up with families after their children receive a referral for an eye exam from a vision screening, including school administrators, teachers, school nurses, social workers, care coordinators, Early Head Start and Head Start staff, early care and education professionals, and School-Based Health Care Center staff.
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This November, Prevent Blindness wishes you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for all the work that you do each day to support vision health in children! As a reminder, Election Day is on Tuesday, November 5, so be sure to head to the polls to vote or mail your ballot by your county’s deadline.
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Children's Vision Screening Training Course | |
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Unless vision screeners are trained to provide standardized vision screening using evidence-based tools and protocols, children and students may participate in vision screening with different tools and procedures depending on where they reside or which programs and schools they attend. This varied approach leads to potential under-referrals and inconsistencies that can drive inequalities in children’s vision, eye care, and eye health in the United States.
To help ensure a consistent and standardized approach, the national Prevent Blindness Children's Vision Screening Certification Course provides training and certification in evidence-based children's vision screening protocols and techniques. The Course also highlights ways to help decrease the gap between vision screening referrals and confirmatory eye examinations. In addition to online modules, the Course provides individualized virtual skills mentoring sessions using the teach-back methodology to ensure screeners use tools correctly and are comfortable with how they screen vision and follow up with families. This national certification is valid for 3 years. You will also receive 5 contact hours for professional development.
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Children and Their Prescription Glasses | |
If children do not want to wear their prescription glasses, you want to ensure the glasses fit properly. This checklist will help determine if the child's eyeglasses are uncomfortable, which may be a reason why children do not want to wear their prescription eyeglasses. | |
My Eyes are Ready to Learn: Alcon Children's Vision Center | |
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On Thursday, October 24, The National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness presented the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children's Vision Award to the Alcon Children's Vision Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Alcon Children’s Vision Center (ACVC), a partnership between the Alcon Foundation and the Fort Worth Independent School District (ISD), provides essential vision and eye health services to Fort Worth ISD students. The ACVC provides eye health education for students and families, professional development for school nurses around children’s vision, vision screenings, and no-cost eye care services, including an on-site comprehensive eye exam, and if necessary, free prescription glasses both in school buildings with portable equipment and a vision clinic in one elementary school that serves all district students. The ACVC also asks school nurses when their last eye exam occurred. Thank you to Prevent Blindness Texas for providing vision screening training and certification for hundreds of Alcon associates who volunteer with the program.
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November is Diabetes-Related Eye Disease Awareness Month | |
Prevent Blindness observes Diabetes-Related Eye Disease Awareness Month in November to raise awareness about the eye health complications related to diabetes that are often overlooked, especially in children. Diabetes-related retinopathy occurs when small blood vessels in the eye are damaged by high blood glucose levels over time. These blood vessels can leak or bleed in the retina. The retina is in the back of the eye. It acts like camera film to help us see. | |
Did You Know?
- Individuals with Type 1 diabetes should receive a dilated eye exam 3 to 5 years after diagnosis.
- Individuals with Type 2 diabetes should receive a dilated eye examination at the time of diagnosis.
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1 in 2 youth with juvenile diabetes may develop diabetic retinopathy 12+ years after diagnosis.
Symptoms of diabetes-related retinopathy include:
- Sudden increase in eye floaters (spots and/or dark wavy lines)
- Sudden missing or dark areas in your vision
- Difficulty seeing at night
- Blurred vision
- Flashes of lights
- Colors appear faded
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Check out our fact sheet, Diabetes + The Eyes: Vision Health in Youth, in English and Spanish.
For more resources for adults with diabetes, check out the Prevent Blindness Diabetes & the Eyes Educational Toolkit sponsored by Regeneron.
Finally, we thank UnitedHealthcare for their partnership and sponsorship of a new demonstration project launching this month to promote education and integration of vision screening and early detection of diabetes-related eye disease into three federally qualified health centers (FQHC) in North Carolina.
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Healthy Eyes, Healthy Lives Webinar | |
The School-Based Health Alliance, the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved, and the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness co-sponsored the “Healthy Eyes, Healthy Lives: Community Approaches to Children’s Vision and Eye Health” webinar on October 9, 2024. The presentation featured models from Florida, Ohio, and Georgia. | |
Healthy Eyes, Healthy Lives: Community Approaches to Children’s Vision | |
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by Malika Cruickshank, MPH Candidate, NCCVEH Intern
MCR Health in Bradenton, Florida, implemented school-based initiatives with portable vision services positioned within or near schools. This approach has proven highly effective in increasing parental consent and ensuring children have routine access to essential eye care services. Albany Area Primary Health Care (AAPHC) in Georgia transformed a classroom within a school into a dedicated space for vision care, allowing them to serve students, siblings, school faculty, and staff. Health Partners of Western Ohio works with school nurses to distribute physical and electronic consent forms to parents to obtain permission for their children to participate in screenings and eye examinations.
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Children's Vision Health Map | |
The new Prevent Blindness Children’s Vision Health Map and corresponding report, provides the public, professionals, and policymakers with the first-ever county- and state-level data on children’s vision issues and the relationship between student test scores, state vision screening regulations, income inequality, and eye care providers in communities. Use the map to explore the data. | |
Key Findings
- One out of every 122 children in the US has uncorrectable vision loss. This includes one out of every 137 children aged 0-11 years and one out of every 102 children aged 12 through 17 years.
- Non-Hispanic Black children have the highest rates of vision loss and blindness. One out of every 89 black children has vision loss, and one out of every 1,000 are permanently blind.
- The 5 states with the highest prevalence of visual acuity loss among children were the District of Columbia, Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Nevada.
- One out of every 45 children in Medicaid/CHIP had an amblyopia or strabismus diagnosis in 2019. This includes one out of every 94 children with amblyopia and one out of every 70 children with strabismus.
- Diagnosed prevalence of amblyopia or strabismus was highest among non-Hispanic whites, Asian, and American Indian/Alaskan Native children, and lowest among non-Hispanic black children and children of other races.
- One out of every 8.5 children in Medicaid/CHIP received at least one pair of covered eyeglasses in 2019.
- Receipt of eyeglasses was highest among American Indian/Alaskan Native and Hispanic children, and lowest among children of other races and non-Hispanic blacks.
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Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI):
The Perkins CVI Protocol
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Our friends at the Perkins School for the Blind have introduced new materials: When to Suspect CVI, with downloads in English and Spanish. The fact sheet states: “Based in the brain, CVI is the leading cause of childhood blindness and low vision. Now, The Perkins CVI Protocol (SM) is available. Find an expert evaluation tool designed to help teachers of the visually impaired create a robust, individualized CVI evaluation report with recommendations for students with CVI.
The Protocol’s workbook can be used as guidance in conducting an educational CVI assessment, with other templates and resources, such as intake forms, ideas for assessments, and evaluation templates.
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Support the Early Detection of Vision Impairments for Children (EDVI Act of 2024) | |
The EDVI Act aims to ensure that every child with a possible vision problem is identified and connected to appropriate eye care. The EDVI Act will provide states and communities with grant funding through a competitive application process to improve, update, and modernize state and community approaches to children’s vision and eye health. Funded programs will integrate children’s vision and eye health into ongoing programs and systems of care that already address other aspects of children’s physical, behavioral, and sensory health in places such as early learning or school- and community-based health settings. | |
Support children's vision and eye health and make your gift today! | | | | |
