Today’s guest blogger is ​Colleen McCauley, Health Policy Director at Công dân cho trẻ em và thanh thiếu niên.  PCCY is a research, advocacy and direct service non-profit organization working on behalf of children across southeast Pennsylvania. 

My’Kee Fisher couldn’t see. He couldn’t see the words in the book in his hand or a football he desperately wanted to kick while playing alongside a friend. My’Kee was struggling at preschool and in constant distress. In search of answers, My’Kee’s mother brought him to Cho trẻ em ngày vui vẻ last year.

On this day, PCCY teams up with Bệnh viện mắt Wills, Visionworks, Eagles Youth Partnership and 450 volunteers to give kids like My’Kee a chance at clear vision. Give Kids Sight Day offers kids across the Greater Philadelphia region free eye exams and two pairs of free eye glasses, if they need them.  Last year, half the kids examined needed glasses, which were delivered to their school nurse two to three weeks after Sight Day.

This year, the event takes place Saturday, October, 24, at Wills Eye Hospital. All children, 17 and under, will be examined on a first come, first served basis from 8:30 am until 2:00 pm. No insurance or appointments are necessary.

A recent national study showed that 12 percent of low-income children age 12 and older had untreated vision problems. This problem plays out here in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. School nurses screen most kids’ eyes every year, and in Philly about 16,000 students do not pass the eye test.  More than two-thirds of those kids do not get a follow up exam with an eye doctor or get the glasses that they likely need. The rate of no follow up in Philly is similar in other low-income suburban communities.

So why aren’t kids getting the vision care they need? In southeastern Pennsylvania, we know that 37,000 children are uninsured, including undocumented kids who can’t get insurance. Further, children who live in immigrant families, particularly Latino kids, are disproportionately uninsured. National research shows that almost 11 percent of Latino children age 12 and older had an untreated vision problem exacerbating the problem. Glasses are expensive, and for families with limited incomes and no insurance, the cost of glasses could take a significant chunk out of an already tight budget.  Families can’t afford them, so kids go without.

But we have also found that when poor vision goes untreated it’s not just because of lack of health coverage. Medicaid and CHIP cover eye exams and glasses, but some parents don’t know this. And some parents don’t know which eye doctors accept their insurance and where to take their kids for care.  If you are looking for vision care in your neighborhood, PCCY has created an easy to use Vision Care Guide to help.

That’s where Sight Day comes in. More than 5,500 children have received free care at the annual Give Kids Sight Day launched six years ago. In 2014, the outcomes were remarkable:

Approximately 1,200 children participated.