Baxter International Foundation Contributes to the Camden Eye Center's Low Vision Program
Members of the Baxter Cherry Hill Global Citizens Committee presented the Camden Eye Center with a $35,000 grant from the Baxter International Foundation to provide vital eye care programs for persons with low or impaired vision in the Camden County area. Pictured (left to right): Barbara Pugliese (Baxter Global Citizens Chairperson), Stephanie Selah, Darlene Grennon, Marge Hanlon, Ann Lynne Benson, Marie Fitzpatrick, Fran Gower, MaryAnn Ragone(COO, Camden Eye Center) and Jennifer Grace (Baxter Global Citizens & member of Camden Eye Center Board of Directors).
Camden Eye Center featured in Subaru Drive Magazine
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Thank you Subaru and the Subaru Foundation for your continued support of the Camden Eye Center's Sight First For Kids Program.
Camden Eye Center Board Member Jeffrey Beenstock Made Partner at Ballard Spahr
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP Chairman Arthur Makadon is proud to announce the firm’s election of current lawyer Jeffrey Beenstock as one of its new partners. Beenstock has sat on the Board of Trustees of the Camden Eye Center for five years.
Beenstock is a partner in the Real Estate Department and a member of the Eminent Domain Group, Housing Group, Real Estate Leasing Group, Real Estate Finance Group, Real Estate Development Group and Environmental Group. His practice is concentrated in the areas of general real estate transactions and litigation with an emphasis on redevelopment law, eminent domain, affordable housing law and land development.
Camden Eye Center Launches Free Community Eye Care Program
The Camden Eye Center has embarked on a program to bring vital eye care services to African American and Hispanic church congregations and other organizations in Camden City and surrounding areas.
The Mobile Sight Saving and Education Program is designed to deliver vital eye care services as well as provide educational information in English and Spanish about the importance of eye care and information about vision problems and eye diseases. This service is delivered directly to neighborhood sites via the Mobile Vision Clinic, a 34-foot mobile clinic equipped with state of the art diagnostic testing equipment.
Aside from testing basic vision skills, the screenings will also include testing for glaucoma. Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. It is prevalent in the African American and Hispanic populations, especially in people over 60 years of age. It is also prevalent in people with a family history of glaucoma. Therefore, it is very important that everyone be tested for this condition because if detected early, very often the disease can be controlled and precious vision saved.
All eye and vision screenings will be provided free of charge followed by a complete comprehensive examination when needed. The examinations are also available free of charge for low income, uninsured and underinsured residents of Camden City and surrounding areas. A small co-pay for glasses may be applicable.
The Mobile Sight Saving and Education Program is sponsored and supported by the National Eye Institute, Lions Clubs International Foundation, Allergan Pharmaceutical Company, New Eyes for the Needy, American Optometric Association Healthy Eyes People Program, Camden City and Camden County Departments of Health and Human Services, and other local corporate sponsors.
New GED Program with Camden County College
The Camden Eye Center is proud to announce a new initiative to provide services to ESL (English as a Second Language) students at several area schools and educational facilities as part of the Camden County College GED Program. In February, the Camden Eye Center Mobile Vision Clinic provided eye care and vision screenings at the J. Riggs School to fifteen students from as far away as Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam, El Salvador, and Germany.
As part of this program, eligible students receive eye health and vision screenings and follow up comprehensive exams at no cost to them. In late 2007, the Camden Eye Center began this program at the Confident Center in Haddonfield, where several Hispanic and Russian residents of New Jersey received free screenings and examinations thus enriching their quality of life in the United States.
BNY Mellon Awards Grant for Senior Programs
In February, the Camden Eye Center received a $25,000 grant from Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) for the Center’s Senior Eyecare Program and the Low Vision Rehabilitation Services. The Camden Eye Center is proud to share the same goals and philanthropic philosophies with Mellon Bank in bettering the community through encouraging families to get yearly eye examinations and to take care of their vision year-round.
Camden Eye Center and Bestwork Industries Team Up to Provide Low Vision Service
Bestwork Industries for the Blind and the Camden Eye Center have agreed to partner in an endeavor to bring low vision services for visually impaired people of the area in and around Runnemede. The Camden Eye Center will establish a branch office at Bestwork Industries for the Blind for the purpose of expanding and making its low vision program accessible to more visually impaired people. Bestwork Industries is located at 801 E. Clements Bridge Road in Runnemede, NJ.
Low or impaired vision is vision that cannot be corrected or remediated any further by medical or surgical intervention, conventional glasses or contact lenses. The Camden Eye Center will provide free specialized low vision examinations and corrective optical devices through funding grants received from Lions Clubs International Foundation and Charitable Trusts administrated by Bank of America and Wachovia Foundation.
The mission of the Camden Eye Center Low Vision Rehabilitation Clinic is to help the visually impaired by maximizing and enhancing their remaining vision. In most cases vision has been impaired as a result of glaucoma, diabetic eye disease or macular degeneration and other sight threatening diseases. It is estimated that almost fourteen million persons throughout the United States have low vision problems. 3.4 million older Americans are visually impaired.
Belinda Moore, President and Executive Director of Bestwork Industries for the Blind and MaryAnn Ragone, Chief Operating Officer of the Camden Eye Center have planned this project for over two years. Both have expressed their complete support and confidence in the program and its capacity to reach many visually impaired persons in the area.
In general, the examinations will be provided free of charge. Many, but not all types of optical devices will also be provided free of charge. In some cases there may be a small co-pay for materials. The Center staff will assist with any billing questions.
Camden Eye Center and Lions Clubs Partner in Amblyopia Program
The Camden Eye Center and Lions Clubs International Foundation have partnered for several years in providing crucial preschool vision and amblyopia screenings throughout Southern New Jersey. The Camden Eye Center recently trained an additional 115 Lions Clubs volunteers on the use of the Welsh Allyn SureSight automatic refractor.
Amblyopia, known as “lazy eye,” is a leading cause of blindness in children. Lions Clubs International Foundations’s Preschool Vision Screening Program enables Lions to conduct screenings for children in order to prevent childhood blindness and impaired vision through early detection and treatment for the most common vision disorders that can lead to amblyopia.
Few children are screened before entering school. It is important that vision screenings be done at an early age when treatment is most effective.
Since 1999, the preschool vision screening program has been one of the Foundation’s most popular initiatives. Eighteen single and multiple districts in the USA and Taiwan have received multi-year Preschool Vision Screening grants, totaling approximately $2.7 million.
Well trained Lions volunteers screen children ages one through five years old. All results are tracked through state-wide databases, making follow-up of referrals possible. Referred children see eye care professionals in their community such as the Camden Eye Center and follow-up results are than returned to the administrative office.
Nationwide, Lions volunteers have screened 651,701 children since the program’s inception in 1999. In the Camden Eye Center / Lions District 16-C Program, 14,000 preschool children have been screened in the South Jersey area. The overall referral rate is 6.0 percent. Complete eye care professional follow-up for referred children (50 percent as a whole) demonstrates a 65 percent predictive value positive, meaning 65 percent (11,203 children) of the children referred truly had a factor that could cause amblyopia. These results demonstrate the true success of the program.
Dr. Ragone Honored by NJSOP
Camden Eye Center President and CEO Lawrence Ragone, O.D. is being honored by the New Jersey Society of Optometric Physicians (NJSOP) with the 2007 Public Service Award at their Annual Awards Luncheon on October 26, 2007 in Atlantic City.
LCIF, Allergan, and Camden Eye Center: All Eyes on the Family
The Camden Eye Center in collaboration with the Lions Clubs International Foundation and Allergan Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently kicked off the All Eyes on the Family program on August 21, 2007 at Mickle Towers in Camden, NJ. All Eyes on the Family is a national educational program for glaucoma patients and caregivers.
This program is designed to increase awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and aggressive management of glaucoma in order to preserve sight.
Several staff doctors, patient care coordinators, and volunteers of the Camden Eye Center were on hand to assist with the program along with members of Allergan Inc., members of the Camden Lions Club and glaucoma activist Roger Martin. Senior residents of Mickle Towers and the surrounding residences were provided with transportation to attend the four hour event.
mprehensive glaucoma screening attendees at the event also had the opportunity to view a virtual reality exhibit that guided participants through a virtual house with an impaired vision simulation. As revealed in the survey findings, a disconnect often occurs between people with glaucoma and their caregivers regarding the impact of glaucoma on lifestyle - 25 percent of people with glaucoma and 82 percent of caregivers say glaucoma sometimes or often affects lifestyle.
More than 80 percent of those who care for someone with glaucoma do not rank the disease high on their list of health concerns for themselves, according to a recent national survey of glaucoma patients and those who care for someone with glaucoma. However, a family history of glaucoma increases a person’s risk for developing the disease. To enhance dialogue between those diagnosed with or at risk for glaucoma, their family members and eye care professionals, the Lions Clubs International Foundation, recognized worldwide for its service to the blind and visually impaired, in partnership with Allergan, Inc., a global leader in eye care, have developed the All Eyes on the Family program.
As part of the program, 10 Lions clubs and Lions-affiliated organizations across the United States were awarded grants to develop glaucoma programs in their communities, and will be hosting glaucoma screening and education events from June thru September 2007. Grants between $5,000 - $10,000 were awarded to Lions clubs and districts in the U.S. serving the greater metropolitan areas of: Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; New Orleans, Louisiana; Northeastern Ohio; San Diego, California; St. Louis, Missouri; Westerville, Ohio; and Camden, New Jersey
Congratulations to our Immediate Past Board of Trustees Chairman and Mobile Vision Clinic Driver Charles "Chuck" Wiemer. On May 30, he was honored in person by President George H.W. Bush with a Special Service Award for his dedication to the mission of the Camden Eye Center.
Next time you are in the Mobile Clinic, be sure to give Chuck a pat on the back for all of his hard work!
(video courtesy of wcbs channel 2)
Camden Eye Center Celebrates 45 Years of Community Eye Care Services
The Board of Trustees and staff of the Camden Eye Center celebrated the 45th Anniversary of the Center on December 2, 2006. The private event was held at the Grand Versailles Ballroom in Maple Shade.
Special recognition awards were given to those professional staff and Board of Trustees members who have served the Camden Eye Center for over ten years.
Those recipients were: Charles H. Wiemer, 11 years of service to the Board of Trustees, Rev. Floyd White III, 11 years of service to the Board of Trustees, Thomas Vermes, O.D., 30 years as a clinician and Board member; Larry Wallis, O.D., 15 years as clinician and Board member; Mary Ellen Gallick, O.D., 18 years as a clinician, and Floyd Spechler, M.D., 20 years as a clinician. Nicholas Rossi and Charles Wiemer were presented with special awards in appreciation of dedicated service as Mobile Vision Clinic drivers.
Board Secretary Richard Indiveri presents an award to Dr. Thomas Vermes for 30 years of service.
Executive Director MaryAnn Ragone received a special award in appreciation for 10 years of dedicated service to the mission and goals of the Camden Eye Center. The Board of Trustees and staff presented founder Lawrence A. Ragone, O.D. with a special milestone award for his passion, dedication, and service for 45 years of service.
Jack Tarditi, Chairman of the Institutional Advancement Committee served as toastmaster.
Dr. Lawrence A. Ragone Receives Campbell Soup Foundation's Lifetime Acheivement Award
Camden Eye Center President/COO Lawrence A. Ragone, O.D. was recently presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Campbell Soup Foundation on October 31, at its annual community breakfast event.
The award recognizes Dr. Ragone for “Many Years of Dedication and Service to the Community.” The citation further states, “Your torch burns brightly and has significantly improved peoples’ lives by bringing vital eye care services to Camden City.”
