Through Optometry Giving Sight’s “Seeing Eye
to Eye” program, patients can provide people in underserved countries with
an eye exam and pair of glasses just as they receive those services in their
optometrists’ offices.
According to an Optometry Giving Sight press release,
the practice sets a donation of $2 to $5 for each eye exam, frame or eyeglasses
purchased, and that donation “funds glasses and sustainable eye care
services for young children and people with limited or no access to eye
care.”
One optometrist, Jeffrey Krohn, OD, from Fresno, Calif.,
has participated in the Seeing Eye to Eye program since its inception,
according to the press release.
“After we make our prescription recommendation, we
say: ‘For every pair of glasses you obtain from us, you’re helping
someone overseas see better.’ It’s not just us giving money to
someone for them, but because of what they did in our office, they are
providing sight to someone else,” Dr. Krohn said in the press release.
Dr. Krohn tells his patients: “When you see better,
you provide sight for another.”
Since January 2011, the donations collected in Dr.
Krohn’s office have provided sight to the equivalent of 2,000 people in
need, according to Optometry Giving Sight.
“If you want to make a difference in the world, you
have to go beyond your community, beyond your patient base,” Dr. Krohn
said. “With Optometry Giving Sight, you don’t have to leave your
office to make a difference in the world, to bring sight to people who
don’t have it. As optometrists, it’s what we do every day. Let’s
just do it bigger. Let’s do it farther. And let’s do it better.”
Optometry Giving Sight seeks to help the 600 million
people around the world who are blind or vision impaired only because they have
no access to an eye exam and glasses. For more information, email
usa@givingsight.org or call (888) OGS-GIVE. Primary Care Optometry News
provides this information as a service to its readers.