PNJ Headlines: Here’s what’s in the news Thursday
Children’s Trust funds free student eye exams, revisit Pensacola Fair’s 90 years, and federal employees eat free at Ruby Slipper in Thursday’s news
- Children’s Trust partners with Community Health Northwest Florida to provide free eye care to ECPS students
- Mobile Optometry Clinic van will visit ECPS campuses to provide services to students in need
- The program will cost $1.5 million and cover three years
Escambia Children’s Trust plans to fund a program with Community Health of Northwest Florida to bring free eye exams and glasses to all students in Escambia County Public Schools.
The program will start with kindergarten and first-grade students in year one, but will expand to all 70 ECPS campuses within three years.
The Escambia Children’s Trust board approved awarding $1.5 million to Community Health of Northwest Florida to provide free vision services to ECPS elementary school students starting next summer or fall. The proposal was supported by all board members during the Children’s Trust monthly meeting on Tuesday.
A Mobile Optometry Clinic (MOC) van along with an optometrist and other staff will visit campuses and provide eye exams, glasses and follow-up services for students in 30 elementary schools initially, said Walter Arrington of Community Health’s Advocacy and Special Projects division.
“We want these kids to be able to see so they can perform in school, and we can impact those third-grade reading scores,” Arrington said, noting the program would not just serve younger children.
“We’re going to schools like Ferry Pass, Pine Forest and the north end of the county and making sure all our students can see.”
Funding for the three-year program starts Nov. 1 and ends Oct. 31, 2028.
The “sole source” funding program will receive $1.3 million in the first year (2025-2026) and $100,000 in the second and third years. Sole source funding is for providers that only offer a certain service in the community.
Arrington said the first year will cover the initial “start-up costs” for the program, which will become self-sustaining with Community Health eventually picking up costs for salary and other expenses. He said the “hard start-up costs” will be $403,312 for the MOC van, $117,672 for medical equipment and $100,000 for nondurable medical supplies such as masks, gloves, etc. An additional $259,904 will go toward salaries and $82,260 in benefits for an optometrist, project coordinator and optometry tech.
Community Health will bill insurance for those families who have it, but Arrington said the $100,000 for the second and third years of the contract would be earmarked for uninsured children.
“You’ve got kids who may have a vision benefit, but they’ve already gotten glasses. They’re only able to get glasses once every two years and they’re broken. Those kids still need glasses and it’s having a mechanism to give us that little extra cushion for self-sustainment,” Arrington said, adding students would select from about 20 frames and include basic lens.
Any unused funds will be returned to the Children’s Trust, he said.
Funding from the program would come from the Children’s Trust carryover or unallocated funds, said ECT Executive Director Lindsey Cannon.
Board member Tori Woods questioned whether the program would overlap with the Florida Heiken program, which provides no cost eye exams and glasses to children statewide — including those in Escambia County.
“I’m wondering how is this sole source, if there’s another vision program?” she asked.
Arrington said the Florida Heiken program requires at least 30 students (or parents) from a specific school to express interest before services are discussed.
The program had over 31,000 referrals during the last reporting year but only provided about 11,000 “proper” eye exams and just over 16,000 (eye) dilations statewide, he added.
“So, you’re seeing a delta of about half of the requests that come in, don’t even get filled,” Arrington said, noting the organization is based in Miami.
“What would make our program different, and does make it different, is there is an integration of the medical with the optometry. Our proposal brings an optometrist, but the van build-out itself has the capability to house an ophthalmologist, which is different. We’re talking doctor, MD, versus optometrist who goes through a special level of training,” he said.
He added Community Health would also provide the Children’s Trust with global data on the students its serves in all capacities whether it’s the vision, behavioral health, pediatric care, etc.
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