At the October 10th Annual Board of Directors meeting, pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Ed Wortham completed his term, rotating off the Conexus Board of Directors. Dr. Wortham has been a long time friend, supporter, and advisor to Conexus and we are grateful for his service. The good news is that Dr. Wortham will continue to serve as Co-Chair of the Council for Pediatric Vision!
Replacing Dr. Wortham on the Board is Dr. Evan Silverstein, author of our study on technology based screenings. Dr. Silverstein, also a pediatric ophthalmologist, has already demonstrated enthusiastic leadership as a member of the Council for Pediatric Vision and we are honored to have him as a member of our Board of Directors.
Conexus received a $25,000 award from the Community Foundation in support of VisioCheck delivery for the Richmond Mobile project. Richmond Mobile, a cornerstone project of the Kids 20/20 Campaign, will bring direct services to students in Richmond Public Schools while collecting data to support further project expansion. The Community Foundation is well known in the Richmond region for their commitment to improving communities, and Conexus is honored to have been recognized as an organization with the capacity to affect change.
Last week, Conexus technicians delivered VisioCheck to the 389 students at Redd Elementary in Richmond. The technology based, comprehensive vision program identified 126 students (32%) with potential vision problems, which is well above the 25% national average. Every child will be sent home with their individualized screening report this week. The simplistic yet informative report is designed to communicate screening results with parents and encourage compliance with the recommended follow-up.
The Richmond Mobile Project is one of the cornerstone projects of the Kids 20/20 Campaign and is a collaboration with Los Angeles-based Vision to Learn (VTL). Vision to Learn will bring its full service mobile clinic to Richmond Public Schools to offer onsite eye exams-and glasses if needed-to the students found to have a potential vision problem through the Conexus VisioCheck program. The Conexus screening reports for referred students have been modified for this collaboration to double as a permission form for the on-site eye exams. Conexus and VTL hope that streamlined parental communications and school support through the collaborative partnership will result in a high parental response on program permissions and utilization of the onsite clinic.
The VTL mobile clinic will be visiting Redd Elementary in early October to provide eye exams to referred students, and those who need glasses will get to pick out their frames the same day! Glasses are then sent to the lab for processing and will be returned to students at an assembly on October 26th, which will be the official division-wide launch of the program. This process will continue through the 2018/2019 school year, eventually providing VisioCheck programs to over 26,000 students and exams and glasses to as many as 6,500!
The Robins Foundation has awarded $50,000 in total to Conexus to support the Richmond Mobile project. The Robins Foundation award will specifically be used to provide VisioCheck programming to over 15,000 Richmond school children throughout the 2017/2018 school year. VisioCheck delivery is step one in a two-step program to improve vision and educational outcomes for RPS students.
Students identified through the VisioCheck program as having a potential vision problem will be offered free onsite eye exams and glasses, if needed, through a mobile clinic operated by Vision To Learn, a national non-profit. The collaborative effort between Conexus and Vision To Learn is designed to eliminate untreated poor vision as a barrier to academic success. Robins Foundation is a strong proponent of K-12 education in the Richmond region and Conexus is proud to have their support.
Thanks to a donation from the Danville Host Lions Club, Conexus’ technology based comprehensive children’s vision program, VisioCheck, will be delivered to about 650 preschool and kindergarten students in Danville Public Schools and Head Start programs this week.
Yesterday, Conexus was again featured on Richmond’s Channel 8 Showcase, in a segment sponsored by Haley Buick GMC to highlight our mission and our Kids 20/20 Campaign.
We are grateful to Haley for their support of our mission and for their help in raising awareness of the importance of children’s vision to their success in school.
In mid-July Conexus was approached by a California-based non-profit, Vision to Learn (VTL), to discuss a possible collaborative effort. VTL has been delivering mobile vision clinics to high need school divisions across the country for the last five years and a large grant through the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative had recently provided them the opportunity to double their national footprint over the course of the next year. Richmond was identified as a community in need of mobile clinic services.
After nearly a month of discussions between the two organizations, potential funders, and Richmond Public Schools the organizations developed a mutually beneficial model of service delivery. Conexus will deliver its technology based comprehensive children’s vision program, VisioCheck, to more than 15,000 RPS students this school year year, and as students are identified as needing follow-up services, the VTL mobile clinic will move through the schools to deliver on-site eye exams and glasses.
This is an exciting opportunity for both Conexus and Vision to Learn and a wonderful ongoing resource for students in Richmond Public Schools.
Conexus was approached in the Fall of 2016 by Friends of Barnabas (FOB), a local non-profit with a mission to improve the lives of impoverished children in Honduras by providing high quality sustainable medical care and enabling communities to become self-sufficient through community health training and education. After months of planning and coordination, Conexus President and CEO, Tim Gresham, and Conexus Screening Technician, Corrine Huber, traveled with a Health Mission team to Honduras for 6 days to support the development of a technology based vision program for the remote villages of Honduras. “This trip was an exciting opportunity to take and test our program outside of the US and contribute to a population desperately in need,” says Gresham. The Conexus team consulted with and trained local FOB staff as to how to incorporate technology to its fullest capacity in the field translating into improved onsite services in the clinics.
John Randolph Foundation awarded its latest grants on Thursday, July 20th in front of a crowd of 125 partners, donors, and grant recipients. Responsive grants totaling $403,369 from the Foundation’s Mission Fund were awarded to 17 nonprofits. Conexus was proud to be among one of the 17 recipients. Robin Mead accepted the award on behalf of Conexus. Funds will be used to provide VisioCheck to 35 schools in the 6 Divisions in the John Randolph service territory starting this fall.
On the evening of June 16th, Governor and Mrs. Jim Gilmore graciously opened their home to community leaders who were interested in learning more about how improving vision outcomes for our students will impact education. Patricia Cornwell joined the event as a special guest and shared her passionate comments about the work of Conexus and how Virginia’s students are at risk of falling behind in school due to the prevalence of undetected and untreated vision problems. We are grateful for the support of so many and are excited to have the opportunity share our mission with those who are in a position to help Conexus expand its reach. These are exciting days for Conexus and we are eager to move forward.
