Dr. Shane Foster remembers growing up in Athens County and wearing glasses from an early age. The southeastern Ohio optometrist understands the unique challenges of being a kid in Appalachia and the gaping need for vision care.
And as president of the Ohio Optometric Foundation, a statewide vision advocacy organization, he s seen how that need limits educational success throughout the region. Ohio has a third-grade reading guarantee but not a third-grade vision guarantee, Foster said. We expect them to read at a certain level, but we’re not giving them the tools to do that.
But thanks to the Ohio Optometric Foundation s partnership with the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, the region s philanthropic arm, and Vision To Learn, a national nonprofit group that provides eye care to students across the country, 7,500 kids across 20 school districts in Appalachian Ohio will receive an eye exam via mobile clinic over the next three years.