Community Services Consortium

Serving Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties in Oregon. Helping people. Changing lives.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Helping People Over 65 Preserve Sight


The Seniors EyeCare Program ensures that every senior has access to medical eye care and promotes annual, dilated eye exams. It raises awareness about age-related eye disease, including cataracts, provides free eye care educational materials and facilitates access to eye care—at no out-of-pocket cost.

By age 65, one in three Americans has some form of vision impairing eye disease. Most do not know it because there are often no warning symptoms or they assume that poor sight is a natural part of growing older. By detecting and treating eye disease early through annual, dilated eye exams, seniors can preserve their sight.

Qualifications: The Seniors EyeCare Program is designed for people who:
• Are US citizens or legal residents
• Are age 65 and older
• Have not seen an ophthalmologist in three or more years
• Do not belong to an HMO or the VA
To determine if you, a family member or friend qualify for a referral through this program, call 800-222-EYES (3937) toll-free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Benefits: People eligible for a referral through the program receive a comprehensive, medical eye exam and up to one year of care— at no out-of-pocket cost —for any disease diagnosed during the initial exam.
Volunteer ophthalmologists accept Medicare and/or other insurance reimbursement as payment in full; patients without insurance receive care at no charge.

Welcome to CSC's blog and e-newsletter!

These communications tools can be used to make announcements, acknowledge donors and volunteers, post videos and slideshows–whatever we want to share with our online community.

There are 3 ways to deliver info to stakeholders:

  1. The blog itself, which can be linked to our current website
  2. Email news blasts (blog articles sent via email as eNewsletters)
  3. RSS Feed (subscribers read in Google Reader or other feed reader, can also send posts to Facebook and Twitter)
We're excited about these communication tools and look forward to both your input and feedback for continuing improvement and positive information-sharing.

If you have agency/program information you'd like posted on this blog, please send full text and/or photos and videos, ideas, or suggestions to Janet Hessel and she will take the next steps.

Enjoy!