The University of Houston Center for Sight Enhancement partnered with Sight Savers America to provide 30 local children who are visually impaired with high-tech vision aids at no cost. Each child qualified financially and had severe visual impairment that could not be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or medical or surgical treatment.

“Through partnerships with organizations like Sight Savers America, our entire team – clinicians, students and staff, and the College of Optometry leadership – works together to connect patients with resources and support.” Dr. Andrew Archila, clinical professor and associate dean for clinical operation at the University of Houston.

“This event brought the UH College of Optometry’s mission to life, uniting faculty, students and staff to support patients,” said Dr. Andrew Archila, clinical professor and associate dean for clinical operations. “Rallying around this young population of patients with reduced vision and connecting them to programs like Sight Savers America helped their chances of academic success and to just be kids. The devices not only enhance their vision but make their quality of life better.”

These life-changing devices allow the user to make the most of his or her vision. Some of the devices dramatically enhance contrast and magnify objects up to 118 times, opening a new world of opportunities, allowing the children to read, write, do homework and crafts, and even see their loved ones’ faces clearly. Other types of equipment convert text to speech to make printed materials more accessible.

“Our collaboration with Sight Savers America has a tremendous impact on our visually impaired and blind school-aged patients,” said Dr. Swati Modi, clinical associate professor in the UH College of Optometry and clinic director at the Center for Sight Enhancement. “So many children with severe visual impairments do not attend college or find employment after high school and these devices provide an opportunity for them to succeed.”

The devices, which are not covered by medical insurance, retail for $1,100 to $3,800, making them cost-prohibitive for most families. This program was made possible thanks to generous funding from the William Stamps Farish Foundation, John S. Dunn Foundation, Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, Houston Delta Gamma Foundation, Communities Foundation of Texas, and Vispero.

“Awareness about the prevalence of vision loss or blindness in young school-aged patients (and even adults) is so important for our community,” Modi said. “Few programs exist that can offer assistance for obtaining assistive technology and other optical aids and these high-tech devices, that can be quite costly, are not typically covered by insurance. Funding for these programs, like Sight Savers America, is critical to helping these kids be academically successful and independent.”

The UH Health-Eye Care Centers are a part of the University of Houston College of Optometry which serves as a leading hub for specialty research, advanced patient care and best-in-class education. The college is one of the top optometry schools and Tier One global research facilities in the world.

Sight Savers America is a nationally expanding nonprofit 501(c)(3) that facilitates eye care and provides low vision and blind equipment, along with the necessary training. Their mission is to provide life-changing vision assistive technology for every legally blind person in Texas that needs, but cannot afford, this type of equipment.

“Through partnerships with organizations like Sight Savers America, our entire team – clinicians, students and staff, and the College of Optometry leadership – works together to connect patients with resources and support,” Archila said. “And the students gain valuable experience by observing and participating in device training and learning about each patient’s unique vision needs.”