SEE WHO WE ARE

Our Vision is to preserve a lifetime of sight for all Georgians especially children, seniors, and those without access to eye care through vision screenings, eye exams, and education.

Prevent Blindness Georgia was established in 1965 as an affiliate of Prevent Blindness America, the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization. For more than 40 years, we have served thousands of Georgians each year through early detection vision screenings, current information on eye health and safety, and assistance with eye examinations and glasses.

During this past school year, Prevent Blindness Georgia's Children's Vision Screening program, utilizing the services of 14 certified vision screeners, screened more than 31,000 Georgia four year olds and referred 5.9 percent of them to an eye care professional for further evaluation. Suspected eye conditions included amblyopia or "lazy eye" blindness, strabismus or muscle imbalance, and refractive errors. If detected at an early age, children's eye conditions, some of which could ultimately lead to blindness, can be corrected with prescription eyeglasses or patching to strengthen the weak eye. We recognize that vision problems are the leading handicap of childhood and continue to grow the program across the state as funding permits.

In 2000, we began Vision Outreach©, a mobile, full-service vision program that offers free vision screenings, eye examinations, and low-cost eyeglasses to low-income adults. The unique model of taking vision screeners, eye doctors, equipment, ophthalmic technicians, and even eyeglasses on-site to shelters allows us to diagnose those with eye disease and refer them for further treatment. Over the past nine years, Prevent Blindness Georgia has diagnosed hundreds of cases of eye disease that, if left undiagnosed, would lead to blindness.

Currently, Prevent Blindness Georgia is focusing on our School Nurse and Partner Pediatrician programs. Through these programs, PBGA trains school nurses and pediatric offices in the best evidence-based method of vision screening children using a manual jointly published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Prevent Blindness America. This fall, GRIP, the Glaucoma Retinal Imaging Project, which utilizes new retinal imaging technology to detect glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, will launch. Prevent Blindness Georgia Board Member Scott Pastor, MD, a retina specialist with Eye Consultants of Atlanta, designed the project.