Prevent Blindness Northern California
Organizational History, Mission, Types of Programs & Services
Blindness is catastrophic to an individual and in many cases sight loss is preventable. Prevent Blindness Northern California (PBNC), a 501(c)3 organization provides services to prevent vision impairment to two vulnerable segments of the population, young children and underserved adults. Last year, PBNC provided over 24,400 vision screenings to young children and senior citizens throughout Northern California.
Mission
The mission statement of Prevent Blindness Northern California is to prevent blindness and preserve sight for all people of Northern California. Founded by Michael J. Hogan, M.D.; Jerome W. Bettman, M.D., and Frederic S. Weisenheimer, Ed.D. in 1962, Prevent Blindness was first called the San Francisco Bay Area Vision Screening Project, one of the pioneer preschool vision screening studies in the nation. This group merged with the California Society for the Prevention of Blindness in 1966 and the two became Prevent Blindness Northern California.
Board of Directors
An active 39-member Board of Directors comprised of prominent Ophthalmologists and business people governs PBNC. Twelve of our medical members actively serve on the Medical Advisory Committee and provide invaluable consultation and guidance to program development and implementation. Our seven 7-member staff, including two Registered Nurses, represents some of the diverse populations residing in our Northern California communities. Programs are carried out by this small staff and our more than 500 volunteers.
Additionally, our active Board of Directors keep the program staff current on public health issues relating to healthy vision and related eye diseases, and; incorporates into its program services updated information from the National Eye Institute, Center for Disease Control, Prevent Blindness America, and Ophthalmology Periodicals.
Areas Served
PBNC’s principal geographic area is the five county-Bay Area. The majority of our vision screening and community education service takes place in the Bay Area through the San Francisco office. Our professional training extends to regions including counties south to Monterey and north to the Oregon border. Our Redding Field Office serves the northern region.
Redding Branch Office
The Redding Branch Office offers vision-screening services in some of our most mountainous regions of the north state. By providing services in Shasta, Tehama, Trinity, Butte, Glenn and Siskiyou counties, thousands of adults and children received sight-saving services last year. As we grow and expand services, individuals living in areas bordering both the states of Oregon and Nevada are benefiting from our organization.
Since opening in April 2000, nearly eighteen thousand children have been screened and hundreds were referred for an evaluation. Fifty-five children were found to have amblyopia and received vital treatment. Over four hundred children were seen by an eye doctor and are wearing glasses, or are under close observation. Sight for Students, a charitable arm of the Vision Service Plan, has provided thousands of dollars in gift certificates for many of our referred children.
Approximately 2,000 adults have been screened and nearly half were referred for a further evaluation. Serious conditions have been detected at our screenings that include Glaucoma, retinal detachments, and cancer of the eye, too name a few. Participating at over twenty-five health fairs, Prevent Blindness Northern California is the “booth” everyone wants to visit for our sight saving screening.
We wish to thank the Ben B. Cheney Foundation for their $25,000.00 grant to help support our mission, “To prevent blindness and preserve sight for all people of Northern California”.
Northern Areas served
The Redding Branch Office offers vision-screening services in some of our most mountainous regions of the north state. By providing services in Shasta, Tehama, Trinity, Butte, Glenn and Siskiyou counties, thousands of adults and children received sight-saving services last year. As we grow and expand services, individuals living in areas bordering both the states of Oregon and Nevada are benefiting from our organization.
Childrens’ Vision Screening In Redding
Since opening in April 2000, nearly eighteen thousand children have been screened and hundreds were referred for an evaluation. Fifty-five children were found to have amblyopia and received vital treatment. Over four hundred children were seen by an eye doctor and are wearing glasses, or are under close observation. Sight for Students, a charitable arm of the Vision Service Plan, has provided thousands of dollars in gift certificates for many of our referred children.
Adult Vision Screening In Redding
Approximately 2,000 adults have been screened and nearly half were referred for a further evaluation. Serious conditions have been detected at our screenings that include Glaucoma, retinal detachments, and cancer of the eye, too name a few. Participating at over twenty-five health fairs, Prevent Blindness Northern California is the “booth” everyone wants to visit for our sight saving screening.
Grants help make Redding possible
We wish to thank the Ben B. Cheney Foundation for their $25,000.00 grant to Redding, to help support our mission, “To prevent blindness and preserve sight for all people of Northern California”.
Prevent Blindness Is 40 Years Old!
Last year marked the Fortieth Anniversary of PBNC as an incorporated body celebrating over one million individuals who have received vision screenings by our organization.