The Child Vision Collaborative began in February 2015.
Jeanee Weiss, CEO of Building Healthy Futures, says the purpose of the collaborative is to bring together stakeholders who are interested in addressing gaps in vision care for school-aged children.
Weiss says over the last year the collaborative identified the vision gap in Omaha and conducted vision screenings at eight OPS schools in February.
She says from those screenings, 1600 kids were identified who needed a full eye exam.
Weiss says this week those students will have full vision exams at UNMC at a week-long vision clinic supported by OneSight.
"There are volunteer eye care professionals coming in from all over the country and they are going to do vision exams on those kids for us. And those who need glasses will get glasses as well. So our goal is to serve 650 kids this week.”
Weiss says the Child Vision Collaborative is a team effort between 18 community organizations including school districts, hospital systems and eye care professionals.
She says the vision van will be parked at UNMC’s College of Public Health this week.
For more information, the website is BuildingHealthyFutures.org