29 January 2007
Optometry Giving Sight, the global fundraising campaign designed to help eliminate uncorrected refractive error, is set to launch an exciting new fundraising programme with optometric practices in the UK called Practice Giving.
It involves participating practices inviting their patients to add as little as one pound to their bills – with the Practice matching their donations.
“Optometry is now at the forefront of blindness prevention globally,” said Dr Jo Hollingsworth, Optometrist and Country Manager for Optometry Giving Sight in the UK. “The Practice Giving Programme is the perfect way for our industry to help raise the funds needed to eliminate at least one form of preventable blindness.”
The programme has recently launched in the US, Canada and Australia and the response from both patients and staff has been overwhelmingly positive.
“In raising awareness of the basic need for optometric services in the developing world we can, in turn, promote the benefits of regular eye care to everyone and help them to appreciate the services they receive,” said Dr Hollingsworth.
There are several different options for practices that want to be involved with the programme. These include matching patient donations, donating a percentage of the price of each pair of spectacles sold and / or making a regular monthly or annual donation.
Optometry Giving Sight will also provide a range of training and support materials and is happy to conduct staff training sessions and work with the local press to promote industry and practice involvement.
While the program has yet to launch in the UK, Dr Hollingsworth said that there was a lot of interest from practices that had participated in last year’s World Sight Day Challenge.
She said that she had also been encouraged to see the programme in action when she attended the American Academy of Optometrists meeting in Denver, US, in December. One independent practitioner from Canada advised that his practice has been involved with the Practice Giving programme for several months and that it had quickly become part of the practice culture.
“All of my staff and patients have really embraced the idea and are really enthusiastic about doing something to help those who do not have access to regular eye care,” he said.
Funds raised by Optometry Giving Sight help to fund sustainable eye care programmes, which not only deliver desperately needed eye examinations and glasses but will also train local vision care professionals and help build infrastructure in countries with little or no eye care. The three priority projects for 2007 are Giving Sight to Blind Children in Africa, Vision Care Development in Sri Lanka and the National Refractive Error Program in South Africa.
Practices interested in supporting the programme should contact Optometry Giving Sight on 0207 202 8168 or via
email.