About Us

Prevent Blindness North Carolina
4011 WestChase Blvd., Suite 225
Raleigh, NC 27607

Prevent Blindness North Carolina (PBNC), also known as the North Carolina Society to Prevent Blindness, was organized in 1967 as a nonprofit health agency. An independent affiliate of Prevent Blindness America (established in 1908), PBNC delivers direct service programs designed to preserve sight through screening, publications, safety, education, information and referral through volunteer efforts. PBNC's mission is to reach people before blindness strikes.

Prevent Blindness North Carolina is headquartered in Raleigh and is governed by a statewide Board of Directors, comprised of medical specialists, distinguished business people, civic leaders, and educators. As essential members of PBNC, volunteers carry out programs and services at the state and local levels. Prevent Blindness is part of the National Voluntary Health Agencies of North Carolina, the State Employees Combined Campaign and a member of the Governor's Consumer and Advocacy Commission for the Blind, the NC Center for Nonprofits and the Covenant with North Carolina's Children.

North Carolina Statistics

  • Every 11 minutes another person in our nation loses his or her sight. In North Carolina, the statistics are just as alarming:
  • 4,000 North Carolina school children, ages 5-19 suffer eye injuries each year.
  • 25,614 preschoolers and 349,518 school age children have visual problems.
  • 1 in 20 preschool age children in our state suffers from amblyopia. Amblyopia, also known as "lazy eye," is reduced vision in an eye that has not received adequate use during a child's early years. Unless this condition is detected and treated before the child's sixth birthday, lifelong vision damage is likely to occur.
  • 66,000 North Carolina adults have glaucoma, yet half do not realize they have this silent disease.
  • Last year, North Carolina workers' compensation bills for eye injuries sustained at the work place totaled over $1,000,000. Services for those already blind cost state tax payers over $30 million dollars annually.

Direct Service Programs

Kenneth C. Royall Jr. Children's Vision Screening Improvement Program

Operating in all 100 North Carolina counties, this program trains and certifies volunteer vision screeners and school system personnel to conduct mass screenings in public schools. In 2010-2011, over 6.760 volunteer screeners provided screenings to 519,107 school-aged children; referring over 41,500 for follow-up care from an eye care professional.

Preschool Photo Refractive Vision Screening

Prevent Blindness North Carolina has been involved in preschool vision screening for 15 years, and screens more preschoolers annually than any other Prevent Blindness America affiliate. In the past three years, over 75,000 North Carolina preschoolers have been screened through this program. In 2010-2011, 24,071 children were screened, and approximately 9% were referred for follow-up care from an eye care professional.

Vision Resource Programs

Prevent Blindness North Carolina partners with Vision Service Plan (a nationwide insurance company), local "Donor Docs", and participating Lens Crafters, Sears Optical, and Pearl Vision Centers to offer free vision care vouchers. Vouchers are provided to PBNC as in-kind donations for exams and/or glasses. In 2010-2011, PBNC provided access to over $500,000 in free eye care to the citizens of North Carolina.

Adult and Community Health

Prevent Blindness North Carolina provides vision screenings to adults through various health fairs and fee-for-service screenings. This program seeks to advance primary care vision health programs through vision screening and diabetic educator training, retinal screenings, and connections to affordable follow-up eye care. In 2010-2011, 4,436 adults were screened across the state. Over 1,150 were referred to an eye care professional for follow-up care.

 

Does your child need glasses?? Free eye exams??

Call 1-800-543-7839 for a Resource Guide from Prevent Blindness North Carolina to find out the latest programs to serve your needs.