A movement to recognize the importance of vision care as a means to fight poverty is growing in Oregon and across the world. About 93,000 students across the state go to school every day without the glasses they need to be able to participate fully.
Matt Gianino, executive director of GoodVision USA, explained that if a child’s vision problem goes unaddressed their academic performance quickly begins to decline, leading to fewer job opportunities.
“They’re less likely to attend school, they’re less likely to complete school,” said Gianino. “On average, students with a vision impairment that go unaddressed lose between two and four months of learning every year.”
Almost one billion people worldwide need glasses but cannot afford them — what Gianino calls the planet’s greatest unmet disability. His organization has already treated one million patients across 11 countries.
He stressed that vision care is a high-impact opportunity, with research showing a $28 return for every dollar invested.
Ann Hollister is the president of Vision to Learn, a nonprofit that provides vision care and glasses to kids at schools in low-income communities.
She said upwards of 95% of the kids who need glasses don’t have them, adding that many kids and parents simply don’t realize their children are not able to see well.
“The first time we give a child glasses, they so often say the same thing,” said Hollister. “They put them on, they take them off for a second and they put them back on and they tell us they didn’t know the tree had leaves.”
Hollister noted that even with Medicaid covering vision care in Oregon, it remains inaccessible for many.
Working parents often have to miss work for multiple appointments to get their children screened and fitted for glasses.
Since launching in Portland in 2023, Vision to Learn has provided glasses to around 4,200 kids and plans to expand across the state.
By Isobel Charle – Producer, Public News Service
