About the Nonprofit
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Prevent Blindness Texas (PBT) does more than keep eyes healthy and prevent vision loss. We improve the overall health, well-being, and quality of life for children and adults in communities throughout the state.
How do we do this? By providing preventative vision screenings for uninsured, under-insured, and low-income individuals to detect disorders and diseases at no-cost to them, by connecting those clients needing follow-up care with doctors who can help them, and with financial resources to pay for eyeglasses, prescriptions, and other interventions, by educating people about eye health and safety, and by training professionals and partners to do the same in their communities.
In all these ways and more, PBT’s programs and services keep children learning, keep adults working, and keep seniors active as they age—all of which lead to better outcomes for individuals, families, and communities.
Last year, Prevent Blindness Texas achieved remarkable results. We screened more than 56,000 children and adults in underserved communities across the state and referred more than 7,400 individuals to follow-up care. We trained and certified 1,100 vision screeners, and we educated more than 87,000 people on how to protect their eyes and keep them healthy.
While we are proud of these results, we know many more children and adults in Texas need our help. Our current goal is to help more than 60,000 people in communities across the state protect and preserve their vision. To reach this ambitious goal, we need your support.
Prevent Blindness Texas is reaching out to individuals, corporations, and foundations who recognize the importance of healthy eyes and good vision, asking you to help us bring our life-changing programs and services to more communities.
Why Good Vision Matters
Good vision matters in every stage of life. In the early years, it plays a crucial role in children’s physical, cognitive, and social development. In the adult years, good vision plays a vital role in the workplace as well as in driving, reading, cooking, and countless other activities which constitute a full life.
Tragically, millions of Texans have impaired vision or are at risk of vision loss as a result of treatable eye diseases and disorders. Consider these numbers:
• An estimated 1 out of every 20 preschoolers and 1 in 4 school children have vision problems that can lead to permanent vision loss and learning difficulties if not detected and treated early.
• 18% of Texas adults responding to a recent Texas Department of Health and Human Services survey reported having an eye disease such as cataracts, glaucoma, or macular degeneration, and almost 7% reported having highly impaired vision.
• More than 3.2 million Americans ages 40 and over have glaucoma, a leading cause of vision loss, and the numbers are expected to keep rising. The risk of glaucoma is especially high among those over 60, African Americans and Latinos, those with family history, those with a previous eye injury, and those with diabetes, high blood pressure, or other health problems.
With early detection and treatment, many vision problems can be remediated, and sight can be preserved. But many people in Texas cannot access the care they need, resulting in preventable vision problems along with diminished opportunities and quality of life.
One major barrier to accessing eye care is a shortage of eye specialists (optometrists and ophthalmologists). Statewide, the ratio of people to eye specialists is about 6,300 to 1, and in some communities, the ratio is even worse.
Ability to pay is another major obstacle to accessing eye care. Many families lack vision insurance, and among those with limited income, paying the rent and feeding their families take precedence. Approximately half of PBT clients tell us cost is the primary barrier to having their eyes examined.
As a result of these and other factors, many eye diseases and disorders go undetected or untreated, and many children and adults who need interventions such as corrective lenses or surgeries do not receive them. We know from our work, for example, about 50% of the children we refer for follow-up services never actually get treated—so we have been designing better communication and monitoring strategies to ensure those we refer for follow-up do, in fact, get the additional treatment or interventions they need to achieve positive outcomes.
Our Work as the Leading Eye Health and Safety Organization in Texas
Established in 1956 and incorporated in 1965, Prevent Blindness Texas is the state's leading nonprofit dedicated to eye health and safety. Our mission is to prevent blindness and preserve sight. Our vision is vision—making healthy eyes a priority in Texas.
Through PBT’s offices across the state, we leverage our network of staff, community partners, and volunteers to bring vision care to all communities with a focus on serving vulnerable populations and those individuals most at risk for vision issues.
The three main pillars of our work are service, education, and advocacy.
SERVICE
Screenings – PBT’s screening services are an accurate and cost-effective way to identify individuals who need a follow-up exam and/or treatment. We conduct screenings in schools, at health clinics, community centers, and at other community events year-round. Many of these are conducted by our staff. We also train and certify screeners. Screeners look for any evidence of eye problems (for example, watery eyes or behaviors such as tilting the head to read), check distance vision, and assess whether the eyes are working well together. Based on the results, individuals are referred to doctors or specialists for further evaluation and/or treatment.
Navigation/Financial Resources – Knowing many of the families we serve have limited financial means, we help those in need secure assistance in paying for prescriptions, corrective lenses, or other eye care treatment needs, etc.
EDUCATION
PBT offers an array of education initiatives which help students, employers, health professionals, and others gain a better understanding of the visual system as well as eye health and safety. Our Healthy Eyes Educational Series builds public awareness about vision basics and eye health and safety. Our Diabetic Eye Disease Educator Program teaches outreach personnel and allied health professionals about how diabetes affects the eyes, and our Glaucoma Educator Program teaches vision center staff, health educators, and community health workers about signs, symptoms, and treatment for glaucoma, including strategies to prevent vision loss.
ADVOCACY
We support public policy to expand access to quality eye health care. It is PBT’s goal to be the leader and key liaison to bring other organizations together throughout the state for policy planning and implementation. We advocate to advance the full spectrum of vision care and eye health by addressing the state’s vision impairment burden. Additionally, our advocacy efforts help to improve public awareness of vision conditions, gaps in access and barriers to care, and inequalities in eye health at the state, local, or systems level.
In partnership with state leaders, PBT identifies communities with the greatest need for our programs and services—in particular, those who are medically under-served and have high numbers of families with limited access to care. In each community, we begin with a comprehensive needs assessment to understand community needs and local partnership opportunities. Then, based on the findings, we work with partner organizations (community health organizations, schools, eye doctors, and others) deliver the screening, education, and advocacy services needed.
In recent years, we have adapted our work to meet the challenges and new realities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are focused on utilizing technology to expand our reach and enable us to continue serving our clients. By continuing to offer in-person eye health screenings, and the addition of telehealth options, we are focused on helping as many clients as possible.
El Paso County: An Example of How Prevent Blindness Texas is Expanding Partnerships to Serve Those In Need
Building on our previous work and existing partnerships in El Paso County, we have been forging new partnerships to further expand community members’ access to crucial eye care services. In addition to conducting vision screenings, our staff and volunteers are working with clients needing ongoing treatment to make sure they follow through with other providers to whom they are referred. Strong local collaborations and in-depth work with clients are vital to achieving successful outcomes for our clients.
Our goal is to ensure every individual that needs care receives quality care in a timely manner. Growing Numbers and Increasing Impact:
Over the past three years, Prevent Blindness Texas has expanded its reach and impact significant. The demand for PBT’s programs and services has grown rapidly in recent years. In the last 2 years, we screened more than 100,000 children and adults in communities across the state. The need for our programs and services continues to increase.
Some of the remarkable milestones we achieved last year:
- We screened 56,000 children and adults for vision and eye health.
- We certified 1,100 vision screeners through our national certification program.
- We provided 7,400 people with necessary follow-up services (prescriptions, corrective lenses, other interventions, etc.) they would not have been able to receive otherwise.
- We provided high-quality eye health and safety education to more than 87,000 adults and children in collaboration with our community partners.
Although these numbers are impressive, we know what matters most are outcomes—improving vision and preventing vision loss among those we serve. To find out more about the outcomes of our programs and services, PBT has worked with outside experts to develop a new evaluation tool. It uses surveys, pre and post-tests, partner reporting data, and information from intake forms and risk assessments to track clients we screen to see how many of those we refer do, in fact, access follow-up care and adhere to the prescribed treatment.
Strategic Priorities
Because the entire PBT organization is committed to expanding our organization’s reach and impact, we set strategic goals on a periodic basis to move our work forward. PBT’s current strategic priorities are:
1. To serve more than 60,000 people across Texas who currently face major barriers to accessing vision care and services.
2. To use technology and partnerships more effectively to increase our reach and impact, augmenting in-person screenings.
3. To increase public awareness of the importance of eye health and safety to overall health and well-being.
4. To increase awareness of the skills and resources that Prevent Blindness Texas offers as the state’s leading eye health and safety organization.
Leadership
Prevent Blindness Texas is led by President and CEO Heather Shirk Patrick, who joined the organization in 2017. The organization is governed by a 14-member Board of Directors whose members are strongly committed to its success. In 2022, PBT is focused on updating strategic initiatives, increasing impact, creating stronger advocates for our organization, and contributing to equity inclusion. PBT has spent a great deal of time assessing where we needed to shift our focus, how to implement stronger stewardship plans, how to re-engage donors, and reduce expenses to operate more effectively and stay very relevant in the continuum of care. We have updated our core values, vision statement, and strategic plan. We continue to solicit input from our donors and clients on a regular basis to help us continue to learn and evolve to serve as many people as we can in the most impactful way possible.
Thank you!
We are grateful for your interest in the crucial work Prevent Blindness Texas is doing in communities across our state to significantly improve eye health and safety and to prevent vision loss. With your support, we can expand our well-developed system of vision screenings, direct access to eye care, and eye health information so that individuals who need eye care and treatment have every chance to lead full and healthy lives. Thank you!