Objective 28-3

Impairment Due to Refractive Errors (developmental)

Reduce uncorrected visual impairment due to refractive errors.

Approximately 60 percent of Americans have refractive errors or defects that could be corrected to give them sharper vision.

• Data Source
• Organizational Resources

Data Source

Baseline: 110.7 per 1,000 persons aged 12 years and older had uncorrected visual impairment due to refractive errors in 1999-2000 (age adjusted to the year 2000 standard population).

Target: 92.9 per 1,000 persons.

Target Setting Method: Better than the best.

Data source: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Operational definition: Help researchers from national, State, and local government agencies as well as those from private organizations to develop comparable measurements for each of the objectives.

Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Tracking Healthy People 2010. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000.

Legend:
DNA = Data have not been analyzed.
DNC = Data for specific population are not collected.
DSU = Data do not meet the criteria for statistical reliability, data quality, or confidentiality.

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Organizational Resources

If your organization has materials and/or programs to support this objective, contact Linda Huss lmh@nei.nih.gov.

• American Optometric Association
• InFOCUS
• Lions Clubs International
• Unite for Sight

American Optometric Association
1505 Prince Street, Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314
Tel: (703) 739-9200
Toll Free: 1-800-365-2219 X 4284
http://www.aoa.org/
Contact: John C. Whitener, OD, MPH, JCWhitener-OD@aoa.org

The American Optometric Association (AOA) seeks to advance the availability and accessibility of quality eye, vision, and related health care; to represent the profession of optometry; to enhance and promote the independent and ethical decision-making of its members; and to assist doctors of optometry in practicing successfully in accordance with the highest standards of patient care. The Association supports year-round programming to educate Americans about their vision and eye health and encourages people to take steps to preserve and protect their vision. AOA represents over 33,000 doctors of optometry trained in the diagnosis and treatment of eye disease and vision disorders, including the prescribing of eyeglasses.

Resources

• Answers to Your Questions About Common Vision Conditions
• Sample patient education brochures about are available at no cost by calling 1-888-396-EYES (3937) or see the AOA home page for more information at http://www.aoanet.org.

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InFOCUS
David W. Dunaway
19728 Saums Road, PMB #136
Houston, TX 77084
Tel: (281) 398-7525
Fax: (281) 398-7428
http://www.infocusonline.org
infocus@infocusonline.org

InFOCUS (Interprofessional Fostering of Ophthalmic Care for Underserved Sectors), is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide primary eye care services to all populations, starting with those most in need and hardest to serve. InFOCUS creates permanent, year-round access to primary eye care by training program partners to establish community based "vision stations" in low-income communities. Each vision station offers assessment, eye health education, referral to eye doctors for reduced fee exams, and on-site dispensaries offering low-cost prescription eyeglasses.

Online Resources

• The Vision Station Project offers low-cost, quality eyeglasses to individuals who could otherwise not afford them. InFOCUS also trains and equips clinicians and volunteers to offer eye care on short term mission trips.

Fact Sheets & Sample Materials

For relevant publications, visit http://www.infocusonline.org/news.htm

• Introduction to Primary Eye Care and Focometry (training and reference manual; Vision Station Start-up Kit); Eye Health for Everyone (flipchart format for) "chalk talks" to community health workers, available in English and Spanish; I Can See (eye health book for parents and children to read together.)

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Lions Clubs International
300 W 22nd Street
Oak Brook, IL 60523-8842
Tel: (630) 571-5466
Fax: (630) 571-1692
http://www.lionsclubs.org
Contact: Deborah O'Malley, domalley@lionsclubs.org

Lions Clubs International has over 14,000 clubs in the United States (44,000 clubs worldwide) which provide community service and promote better international relations. As each community's needs and resources are unique, Lions club programs may vary across the nation; however, the major health programs Lions have established are sight conservation and work with the blind, diabetes awareness, and hearing and speech action and work with the deaf. Lions may sponsor vision screenings. On an individual basis, Lions may provide assistance so that a person in need may obtain eyeglasses. Contact the international headquarters office for information regarding clubs within your area.

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Unite For Sight, Inc.
Post Office Box 206486
234 Church Street
New Haven, CT 06520
(203) 404-4900
http://www.uniteforsight.org
Contact: Jennifer Staple, Founder, President & CEO, JStaple@uniteforsight.org

Unite For Sight is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. Unite For Sight applies best practices in eye care, public health, volunteerism, and social entrepreneurship to achieve our goal of higih quality eye care for all. Unite For Sight’s unwavering commitment to creating a real, lasting impact involves four types of innovative programs: chapters at North American universities; Global Impact Corps in North America; locally-led eye care programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; and an annual global health conference.

• Chapters in North America: University student volunteers are trained to provide vision screenings and education programs in local community centers such as at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Those screened are matched with free health coverage programs so that they can receive a complete eye exam by an eye doctor.
• International Eye Care Outreach Programs: Unite For Sight supports eye clinics worldwide by investing human and financial resources in their social ventures to eliminate patient barriers to eye care. The eye care services are comprehensive, including examinations by local eye doctors, diagnosis and care for all treatable conditions, promotion, and prevention. This full range of services is delivered to the population year-round. Outreach services are brought to the people in their villages, whether those remote areas are 1 hour from the local eye clinic, or 7 hours from the clinic. We eliminate patient barriers to care by fully funding surgeries, bringing eye care to the patients, providing transportation to the eye clinic for surgery as needed, and educating communities about blindness elimination. All of the eye care and surgeries are provided by local eye doctors.
• Global Impact Corps: Volunteers learn about, understand, and advocate for Unite For Sight's mission to apply best practices in eye care, public health, and volunteerism to achieve our goal of high quality eye care for all.
• Global Health and Social Entrepreneurship Conference: The conference annually convenes more than 2,200 participants from all 50 states and more than 60 countries. The conference participants represent a great range of diversity, including students, nurses, doctors, policy-makers, nonprofit directors and volunteers, public health professionals, health educators, community health workers, researchers, social scientists, social workers, social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, teachers, lawyers, and business executives. The goal of the conference is to exchange ideas and best practices across disciplines in order to improve public health and international development. Participants are encouraged to attend presentations in fields that may be outside of their existing expertise so that they can learn about successful strategies in other fields and apply those ideas to their own work.

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