Spring is here and that means golf season is right around the corner! Mark your calendars for the annual OOF Golf Outing:
August 7 at Scioto Reserve in Powell. The traditional annual outing with shotgun start and 36 foursomes. Complete with prizes, silent auction, games and more.
Download registration form on www.ooa.org.
Contact the OOA with questions: [email protected] – (614)781-0708
by Harmin Chima, OSU Optometry Student
For some Ohio State (OSU) Optometry students, spring break means sandy beaches and palm trees. For eight students, spring break consisted of the opportunity to serve others. These specific students visited Jamaica, and took their direct ophthalmoscopes with them. They traveled through the college’s Fellowship of Christian Optometrists (FCO) on a medical mission trip to Frome, Jamaica, where they used their skills to provide vision services at the Gamertsfelder Medical Center. This center is named after Dr. Paul Gamertsfelder, who started Men in Mission in 1974; the group responsible for constructing the center in 2008. The students were hosted by Dr. Doug McCloy, who has a practice in Marion, OH, and is heavily involved with the medical center in Jamaica.
The initiative was headed by Ty Clase, a second year optometry student. With his hard work, as well as the hard work of many other students, the trip was a great success. This was the first mission team composed of optometry students from OSU to visit the Gamertsfelder Medical Center. They brought a plethora of donated ophthalmic 
equipment much needed in the clinic. During their time on the island, the students saw 165 patients. “Our outreach days consisted of cataract surgical assessment, free clinic with full exams, and school children screening,” stated Clase. The students also served by distributing bibles and offering prayer to those who came to the clinic.
When asked about the experience, Clase informed me that he and the others grew both mentally and spiritually on the trip. “As students,” he said, ” we were exposed to diseases most of us had just read about in our textbooks. Spiritually, we grew closer in our individual faith walk.”
FCO at OSU plans to make this an annual trip as an alternative, service-based spring break. For more information on the Gamertsfelder Medical Center, please visit www.missionofsight.org.
The Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation has received a $50,000 grant from the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee to support Onesight Vision Center at Oyler School for the 2012 – 2013 school years for student transportation and an office manager.
The grant will be used to provide students, throughout the 45 Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) who have failed school vision screenings, transportation to the Onesight Vision Center at Oyler School for a complete eye exam with the center’s full time optometrist. Then the Center will serve all CPS students in need of primary eye care. The Center opened in October 2012 through the combined efforts of OneSight, The Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation, Ohio Optometric Association, The Cincinnati Woman’s Club, Cincinnati Health Department and Cincinnati Public Schools.
The Onesight Vision Center at Oyler School sees students who do not have health insurance, as well as students who have Medicaid and other insurance coverage. Many CPS students qualify for or have Medicaid coverage, however insurance coverage does not guarantee access to care. The reasons include: a shortage of local eye care providers; unfavorable office hours for single and working parents; transportation concerns; illiteracy; and homelessness, among others.
“The grant also allows us to hire a fulltime office manager, which means we can provide more eye exams to CPS students. It also means we are able to provide follow-up services, and follow up with that student to make sure their parents are informed,” said Don Holmes, Executive Director, The Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation, and Executive Member, Onesight Vision Center at Oyler School.
The Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts supports charitable or educational purposes; for relief in sickness, suffering and distress; for the care of young children, the aged or the helpless or afflicted; for the promotion of education, and to improve living conditions. Jacob G. Schmidlapp was born in Piqua, Ohio in 1849 to German immigrants, and overcame poverty and great personal tragedy to become one of the most respected and successful men of his time. He founded the Union Savings Bank in 1876, which merged with Fifth Third Bank in 1919. In 1903, he established a trust to help improve lives and a second Schmidlapp Trust was established in 1919. The Onesight Vision Center at Oyler School is now financially assisted by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee.
The Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation is a nonprofit organization serving the Greater Cincinnati region with programs and services that help preserve and improve sight. The Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation educates the public about vision-related issues, and provides access to eye care services to under served adults.
For more information about making a donation, or about any of the programs and services offered by The Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation, please call (513) 878-2300, or visit www.CEIFoundation.org. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee.
The Ohio Optometric Foundation partnered with Akron Children’s Hospital and Akron Public Schools to offer free eye exams and glasses to 75 students on January 29-30 at Akron East High School. In addition to East, students seen were from Bridges, Seiberling Elementary, Robinson, Forest Hill, Roswell Kent Middle School, and Barber.
“Recognizing the link between health and academics is essential,” said Michele Wilmoth, nurse manager of school health services at Akron Children’s Hospital. “If students cannot see clearly they cannot learn. Akron Children’s Hospital and Akron Public Schools want every child to reach their full academic potential.”
The non-profit Ohio Optometric Foundation began the iSee (In School Eye Exam) program, in 2008, and volunteer optometrists have examined more than 650 students in 10 school districts across the state. The two-day project is coordinated with the school nurse, whose screenings identify children with vision problems and financial need.
“Many students do not follow up with the school nurse’s recommendation to see an eye doctor,” said Dr. Tracey Needham of Toledo who coordinates the event for the Foundation along with Dr. Cheryl Archer of Lima. “These children are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to learning and succeeding in school. The iSee program brings the eye examinations and eyewear directly to the students and by doing so promotes the importance eye care.”
Akron area optometrists, Dr. Rose Dickerhoof, Dr. Drusilla Grant, Dr. Katie Greiner, Dr. Sheri Miller, Dr. Tim Miller, Dr. Bruce Manning, Dr. Don Murphy, Dr. Larry Roth, Dr. Scott Sedlacek and Dr. Lisa Testa volunteered at the event. Classic Optical Laboratories of Youngstown donated frames and lenses. Latham and Phillips provided the necessary equipment.
Click here to read the Akron Beacon Journal article.