For Immediate Release November 2, 2005

For More Information Contact: Rich Schneider, 317-278-4564 rcschnei@iupui.edu

Children Receive Vision Care Thanks to Anthem Foundation

INDIANAPOLIS - Hundreds of children will receive vision care services, thanks to a $150,000 grant the Anthem Foundation awarded to the Eye Care Community Outreach Program (ECCO).

Some 60 Warren Township kindergartners who had their eyes screened today at the Early Childhood Center in Warren Township were among the first children to benefit from the grant.

Without the Anthem Foundation grant, the ECCO program would have been terminated, said Gerald E. Lowther, Dean of the Indiana University School of Optometry. "The Anthem Foundation gift can be measured in dollars and cents, but when you talk about maintaining someone's vision and health, this gift is truly priceless."

"Many eye problems are preventable, if treated," said Dennis Casey, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana. "For Anthem, it's important that we support the work of organizations like ECCO to make vision care service more accessible to the underinsured. This is in keeping with our commitment to improve the health of our community."

Created in 2004 by the Indiana University School of Optometry and the Indiana University School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology, ECCO helps children and adults access needed vision care, especially those who were not receiving examinations, treatment of eye disease or needed follow-up evaluations.

Serving the Indianapolis area, ECCO targets those who are underinsured or without health insurance. About 20 percent of its services are geared toward children, primarily through vision screenings at Orchard Park Elementary, four IPS schools and Warren Township Schools More than 1,000 children have been screened by ECCO in the year since the program was established.

Performed by fourthyear interns from the Indiana University School of Optometry with on-site supervision from School of Optometry faculty, eye screenings for children include checking each student's depth perception, ocular muscle balance, visual acuity at distance and near, and looking inside both eyes. The school nurse is notified which students fail to pass the screening. Should the students' parents need financial assistance and a referral to an eye doctor, ECCO assists them with follow up eye exams and vision care.

"The Indiana University School of Optometry has been providing an invaluable service to the parents and kindergarten students in the MSD of Warren Township," said David Jann, Assistant Director for Special Education for Warren Township schools. "The intervention, provided at no cost, would normally cost families at least $100 per child for this comprehensive evaluation. This service has been provided for approximately 750 kindergarten students within a two day period. I can not express how important this examination is to have an early intervention for students during their first experience in school."

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