FocusFirst is a program that was started in Alabama by a Penn alumnus, Stephen Black, four years ago. The program aims to provide a cost-effective direct response to the vision care problems of preschool-age children who live in poverty, ensuring that they start their education with the best vision medically possible. College students are trained to use special photo-refractive cameras to do the screening, which require no responses or eye-drops. Using these cameras to screen the young children's vision, they found that 10-12% had undetected vision problems. FocusFirst then coordinates free follow-up care for the children. This year's members of Tzedek, Hillel's community service and advocacy group, worked to bring FocusFirst to the Philadelphia area. They partnered with many different organizations, such as Vision Research Corporation, Eagles Eye Mobile, Unite for Sight, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, in order to analyze the film and provide free follow-up care for those in need. They are already on their way to meeting their goal of screening 500 children in West Philadelphia day care centers. Not only does this project provide a very important service to the children, but it also instills a sense of responsibility within college students to improve the community health care needs of a large segment of Philadelphia's population.
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