Summary
With an initial $50,000 contribution from the Philadelphia Eagles' Jermane Mayberry, Eagles Youth Partnership launched the Eagles Eye Mobile, its first direct service program. The mobile program takes its services directly to children who would otherwise not get vision care. It is one of only two mobile pediatric vision care units in the country, and the only one that is affiliated with a sports team. When the mobile visits a school, it provides students who have failed Pennsylvania's mandatory vision screening with a free eye exam and, if needed, referrals for further medical treatment. Later, mobile staff and partners deliver the children's prescription glasses, as well as take children with referrals to their follow-up appointments - all free of charge.
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Extract
Tackling Vision Care Disparities
WHEN NFL OFFENSIVE LINEman Jermane Mayberry was 16 years old, he was diagnosed with amblyopia, or "lazy eye," and was pronounced legally blind in his left eye.
"I thought everyone saw the way I did," he recalls, noting that no one else in his rural Texas hometown had noticed his eye problem, either. "But when I got into high school, I was having trouble seeing out of my good eye, because the strain of overcompensating had finally caught up with me." Mayberry later learned that, had his eyes been checked when he was a child, his amblyopia could have been easily corrected by wearing an eye patch.Despite his impaired vision, Mayberry was the Philadelphia Eagles' No. 1 draft pick in 1996, when he was 22 years old. "Before the draft, I told my agent that where...See the full content of this document
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