Posted: 4/11/2003
The Wald Community Nursing Center, a program of The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, received a Healthy Vision 2010 Community Award from the National Institutes of Health National Eye Institute (NEI) to promote vision health in East Baltimore.
The grant supports a program called VisionTEST (Targeted Education, Screening, and Treatment) that increases the availability of community-based vision screening, vision education, and follow-up eye care to underserved children and their families. The program aims to enhance and integrate existing clinical and instructional services.
“Vision is critical because it is so closely tied to successful learning,” says Marion D’Lugoff, MA, RN, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and head of the Wald Center on Rutland Avenue. “If a child can’t see the book or the board, that’s an impediment to learning. If the parent can’t afford the eye glasses, that’s another barrier.”
According to D’Lugoff, a child who is losing sight in one eye is unlikely to notice it because the other eye will take over. “That’s why education and screening are so important. Treatment of this condition, known as amblyopia, in most cases involves simply wearing an eye patch,” she says.
The award the Wald Center received was one of 32 grants from NEI totaling more than $315,000. The Healthy Vision 2010 Community Awards program implements the new vision objectives of Healthy People 2010, a national health promotion and disease prevention effort.
For more information on the Wald Center and community health nursing at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, visit http://nursing.jhu.edu/wald. For more information on Healthy Vision 2010, visit http://www.healthyvision2010.org/.
For media inquiries contact Ming Tai at [email protected] or 410-614-5317.