3 Of The Best Vision-Related Charities To Support This Year

At OCLI, we pride ourselves on giving back to our community as often as possible. Over the years, we’ve supported Toys for Tots, the American Heart Association, and The Valerie Fund. We even have donation-matching incentives for patients who give to charities.

As eyecare professionals who love what we do, we’re passionate about backing organizations that help prevent eye disease and restore sight, as well as those that produce research with the goal of ultimately helping physicians better care for their patients.

There are a lot of organizations out there that do incredible, impactful work, but here’s a short list of charities that we invite you to consider supporting this year.

Prevent Blindness

Prevent Blindness is the nation’s leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. The organization does a lot for the eye care community and for patients, and just some of their work includes:

• Advocating for public policy and resources that ensure everyone has affordable, accessible, and quality eye care options
• Providing patients with free/low-cost eye care assistance through industry partners
• Serving as a resource for public health professionals on areas related to eye health through an annual national eye health summit, webinars, allied health education and more

With a focus on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness touches the lives of millions of people each year.

EyeCare America

Part of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, EyeCare America is one of the country’s leading public service programs. The organization provides eye care services through a pool of more than 5,500 volunteer ophthalmologists. Since 1985, EyeCare America has helped nearly two million people, and 90 percent of the care provided is at no out-of-pocket cost to the patient.

VisionHarvest

Vision Harvest, an initiative founded in 2011 by our Medical Director, Dr. Cary Silverman. What began as an annual event that provided uninsured or economically disadvantaged patients the gift of sight through free cataract surgery, Vision Harvest now offers this service throughout the year.

In addition to Dr. Silverman, Vision Harvest relies on an entire team of experienced, caring ophthalmologists and includes OCLI board-certified comprehensive ophthalmologist Allison B. Gunzburg, M.D.

Additionally, other participating Vision Harvest ophthalmologists include:

• Michael Farbowitz, M.D., Short Hills Ophthalmology, Short Hills, NJ
• Kenneth Miller, M.D., Laser Vision Center of New Jersey, West Orange, NJ
• Emily Jacobs, Miller Associates in Ophthalmology, Livingston, NJ

“While a large majority of Americans have health insurance coverage, roughly 16% are still uninsured. My colleagues and I all agree no one should go without needed cataract surgery due to finances. We want to make sure that any visually impaired person in New Jersey without insurance or financial resources learns about this remarkable program,” said Dr. Silverman.

Since its founding, Vision Harvest has successfully treated more than 300 patients.

This list mentions just a few of the many organizations doing good for patients in need of eye care and working to further education to help the community of eyecare professionals continue to provide the best care possible.

If you live in the New Jersey area and are in need of cataract surgery but don’t have health insurance or lack financial means, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at OCLI for more information on Vision Harvest.

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