Amblyopia Elimination Project: Pediatric Medical Home-Based Community Vision Screening.

Purpose: To examine whether facilitating access to instrument-based screening equipment will increase the total number of high-quality, age-appropriate vision screenings provided to the preschool aged population.

Methods: The goal of the Naples Lions Amblyopia Elimination Project was to place a SPOT Vision Screener (Welch Allyn, Skaneateles Falls, NY) in every pediatric medical home using philanthropic dollars. Participating medical homes agreed to provide data on the number of children screened, number of referrals made, criteria for referral, and follow-up notes regarding examination outcomes.

Results: In 2012, only 4 of the 23 pediatric medical homes in Collier County were using instrument-based vision screening equipment. By 2017, 19 of the 25 pediatric medical homes (76%) used SPOT Vision Screeners. In 2017, 6,052 preschool children were screened in these 19 pediatric medial homes.

Conclusions: The concept for this community-based philanthropic effort is original in its design and implementation and is a significant step forward in the goal to eliminate preventable permanent vision loss in children. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2019;56(3):146-150.].