WICHITA, Kan.—Envision has been awarded a $25,000 Impact Grant from the Kansas Health Foundation to fund its public education program. The program serves all 105 Kansas counties by promoting social awareness, advocacy and early intervention through public outreach, education and collaboration. Envision seeks to expand its program to ensure all Kansans have access to vision care. “Clearly, there is a cause and effect for people who are blind or visually impaired in terms of lowered socioeconomic status, limited access to vision health care and fewer opportunities resulting from blindness or visual impairment,” said Heather Hogan, Envision’s senior vice president of foundation and mission services.

“Envision is working to overcome the social and economic factors that impede the delivery of vision health services to the general public, especially in rural areas of Kansas.”

As an initial step, Hogan said, Envision launched the Envision Public Education Program in 2016. The program delivers education about eye health, eye safety and eye disease, the prevention of vision loss, and helps the typically sighted community understand the challenges faced by those living with visual impairment. Introducing this program opened Envision’s eyes to the need for a collaborative effort among all agencies and care providers throughout the state.

In 2017, the first Vision Summit was held in Wichita. Through breakout sessions and panel discussions, participants from 25 organizations and government agencies identified gaps and/or duplicate initiatives that need to be addressed. The participants formed a new Vision Coalition Task Force to drive initiatives identified at the Summit, and will now conduct a review of the vision assessment processes, create policy supporting a variety of issues in low vision and develop a website that provides a list of low vision resources for professionals and families.

Envision promotes advocacy and independence for those who are blind or low vision. Founded in 1933, Envision is one of the largest employers of individuals with vision loss in the nation.