Recently, a long-standing partner with Prevent Blindness suspended their eye-care voucher program in order to rebuild it better, stronger, and more effective for all involved. We can certainly appreciate the intent. However, the pause was sudden, and left many partners in the program struggling to figure out how to bridge the existing gap between failed vision screenings and eye exams for those who could not afford the exam.
These vouchers, and other in-kind programs like it, are a true lifeline to the people that we serve in North Carolina. When active, they were redeemable for a single comprehensive eye exam and/or a single pair of glasses to those that financially qualified. Through our work in early detection and prevention across the state we see many different people and families that struggle with the daily challenges of providing food, shelter, utilities, and the basic necessities in life. These basic needs often take precedence over an eye exam or glasses, unfortunately. Even further, many times, the clients who can benefit from a simple eye exam the most are children.
In 2023, Prevent Blindness North Carolina provided almost 3,000 of these types of vouchers to connect our screening clients to high-quality vision care for free. While other much smaller voucher programs still exist and provide much needed relief for some, the recently suspended program’s vouchers covered the cost of the exam. Most of the other voucher programs we use pay for the glasses only, which doesn’t help overcome the barrier to care that cost presents to many of our clients.
As a result of this pause, PBNC projects a gap of about 1,300 vouchers between now and December 31st, 2024. That is 1,300 people who are affected by a possible vision disorder but do not have the financial means to get a basic eye exam. They are mothers and fathers working hard to raise and support a family. They are teenagers in high-school struggling to see the front of the classroom and falling behind their classmates in learning progress. They are preschoolers that have never had normal vision and don’t know there are individual leaves on a tree, or that grass has individual blades.
We have a long-standing group of very supportive Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, and Opticians across North Carolina who we affectionately call “Donor Docs.” They are generous partners that have willingly donated a number of free eye exams and/or glasses to Prevent Blindness North Carolina. Those donations allow us to continue to connect referred clients, that qualify for financial support, directly to a high-quality provider for that eye exam. Prevent Blindness North Carolina manages the application, qualification, and redemption process so the Donor Docs only have to focus on delivering high-quality eye care for the client – not managing a donation program.
Right now, PBNC is asking the community of professionals in North Carolina that have the ability to share and be a part of this work, to join our Donor Docs group and help us bridge this massive gap in care for 1,300 of our friends and neighbors across the state.
If you are able to provide a commitment of any number of eye exams to support this effort, PBNC will manage the client communication, qualification, and redemption portion of the process for you or your firm. We make every effort to make the Donor Doc experience as simple and seamless as possible for our generous Donor Docs who choose to provide these donations.
Please click here to share your interest in participating, or call 919-755-5044 x 112. Thank YOU for being a part of this life-changing work.
