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In Partnership with IFB Solutions and School Nurses

After a two year hiatus, Prevent Blindness NC was excited to revive an annual project to bring a mobile eye exam unit to two NC communities in need.  This highly collaborative project between Prevent Blindness NC, IFB Solutions, and school nurses in Halifax and Roanoke Rapids school districts provided 21 eye exams and glasses for

Meet Noah: PBNC’s Newest Ambassador

The Prevent Blindness North Carolina Preschool Vision Screening team strives to ensure that our program makes a positive impact on the lives of thousands of preschoolers each year. We love to have the chance to share our many success stories. We are excited to introduce you to a very special preschooler who now has the

Blind Hockey comes to the Carolinas!

Are you interested in trying something new? Well, Blind Hockey is coming to the Carolinas! Blind Hockey is for anyone that is blind or vision impaired. There are no age or skill requirements. Blind Hockey started in Canada and has been growing throughout the US and Europe. It is played like traditional hockey with a

Preschool Vision Screening Program Sees Increase in Center Participation

Young children often do not realize they have a vision problem; thus, they are usually unable to express the difficulties and frustrations that often come along with a visual impairment. As 10% of preschoolers in NC have a vision problem, and many of them don’t even realize it, the need for early vision screening and

Cigna Foundation Provides Adult Program Support

Prevent Blindness NC is excited to announce the receipt of a $100,000 grant from the Cigna Foundation to support the PBNC Adult Vision Screening Improvement Program. The program will serve approximately 40 federally qualified health centers, community health clinics, and health departments and provide direct service screening to approximately 6,000 patients across NC in 2022.

School Aged Vision Screenings: Playing Catch-up in the New Year

Due to the pandemic, the majority of school children across NC went nearly 2 years without a basic vision screening. PBNC estimates a backlog of over 400,000 school children who were not screened last year, and who now may have developed new and worsening vision impairment that can impact their learning. During the 2020-21 school years, nurses expressed the challenges the pandemic presented

Meet Luke: A Preschool Vision Screening Success Story

Fortunately for Luke, age 5, Prevent Blindness NC visited his child care center to offer free vision screenings. When he failed the screening, PBNC recommended that he be examined by an eye doctor for diagnosis and treatment. Luke’s doctor did discover a significant vision impairment in his right eye and prescribed glasses and patching to

From a Screening Site Point of View

Cabarrus Rowan Community Health Center, a federally qualified health center, operates as a patient-centered medical home for many uninsured and under-insured residents from Cabarrus and Rowan County. The mission of the center is to positively impact the health of their community one patient at a time, by providing an integrative team that works in partnership

Employee Spotlight: Amanda Strahin

PBNC Certification Director Anya Helfrich recently sat down for a chat with Amanda Strahin, one of the dedicated vision screening trainers on her team.  Here's what she found out! Tell me how you first got involved in with PBNC. I was looking for a part-time job that allowed me to use my teaching skills in a

NC State Fair Screenings Return for 2021

After a disappointing cancellation of the NC State Fair last year due to the pandemic, we were thrilled to be back in action at our vision screening booth for 11 days in October. During the 2021 NC State Fair, PBNC staff and volunteers screened over 1,000 fairgoers in an effort to detect possible vision problems