Pediatric Outreach Program
Helping children to succeed through healthy vision
Undiagnosed and untreated visual conditions have a strong impact on a child’s development. The early detection of a child’s vision problems minimizes developmental delays and maximizes school performance.
The Pediatric Outreach Program provides comprehensive vision care for high-risk children from birth to five years of age in partnership with early intervention programs throughout Chicago. Over 2,000 children at 27 sites have been served since the program was launched in October 2003.
Once per week, faculty and students visit an agency to perform comprehensive eye examinations to measure the visual acuity, eye teaming skills, eye muscle movements, refractive condition and ocular health of each child for whom a consent form has been obtained. As necessary, eyeglasses are prescribed and delivered to the children at their agency. Approximately 20% of the children examined have required prescriptions. For the children that require additional treatment, follow-up evaluations are performed one month later.
The Pediatric Outreach Program is made possible in part through grants from:
Vision Service Plan (VSP)
Northern Trust Charitable Trusts
Prince Charitable Trusts
and through donations of materials and equipment from:
ClearVision Optical Co.
Heine USA
Marchon Eyewear
Medtronic, Inc.
Modern Optical
Safilo Group
Star Ophthalmic Instruments
Welch Allyn
“Healthy vision is crucial to young children as most of what we learn is through the visual process. Through the Pediatric Outreach Program, we can catch impairments and diseases early and help children to achieve their full potential.”
Valerie Kattouf, O.D., Associate Professor of Optometry
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