Davis Vision Launches New Partnership With Prevent Blindness Ohio and Summa Hospital

PLAINVIEW, N.Y., Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Davis Vision, Prevent Blindness Ohio and Summa Hospital's Ophthalmology Department have launched an ongoing community partnership to provide needy Akron-area children with free vision care services.

In collaboration with Prevent Blindness Ohio's Vision Care Outreach Program, the Summa Hospital Department of Ophthalmology currently provides free or reduced cost eye examinations to underserved children and adults in the greater Akron area. Davis Vision's Focus on America® community outreach program is pleased to join the partnership and provide patients in need of vision correction with free eyeglasses at participating Eyemasters retail locations.

"We are thrilled to partner with Davis Vision on this initiative, which we expect will help about 70 individuals each month," said Kira Baldonado, director of marketing and community services at Prevent Blindness Ohio. "Many of these patients would not otherwise receive vision care or eyeglasses, so this is a great service to the community."

This is Davis Vision's first community partnership in Ohio. Similar partnerships are in place in Baltimore, Memphis, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. More than $600,000 in vision services have been provided to underprivileged populations since Focus on America's inception in 2008.

About Davis Vision

Davis Vision is part of the HVHC Inc. group of companies, which also includes Viva International Group and Eye Care Centers of America. Davis Vision has been providing comprehensive vision benefits for nearly 50 years, and currently serves more than 55 million members nationwide through a network of more than 32,000 ophthalmologists and optometrists, in addition to many opticians and top national retail providers. For more information about Davis Vision, visit www.davisvision.com.      

About Prevent Blindness Ohio

Prevent Blindness Ohio, founded in 1957, is Ohio's leading volunteer nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing blindness and preserving sight. We serve all 88 Ohio counties, providing direct services to more than 800,000 Ohioans annually and educating millions of consumers about what they can do to protect and preserve their precious gift of sight. Prevent Blindness Ohio is an affiliate of Prevent Blindness America, the country's second-oldest national voluntary health organization. For more information or to make a contribution, call 800-301-2020, or visit us on the Web at www.pbohio.org or facebook.com/pbohio.

SOURCE Davis Vision