Christina Nicastro: OneSight is a nonprofit that we partner with every year.
Brad Fischer: We've got a three-day clinic here in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Housing Authority, where we're distributing likely 400 to 500 pairs of glasses to community members.
Christina Nicastro: When we had the opportunity this year to take a look at locations, Philly just stood out to us. It's a community that we have a diversity of ages and needs. And when we worked with some of our local partners here, they said, absolutely, please come. We would love to have you.
Jonathan DaSilva:Yesterday we had about 120 individuals who were able to come through and get their glasses or get their screenings. And what you heard consistently is, when I get home, I'm going to tell my mom or I'm going to tell my neighbor or my grandfather, my grandma. And those people are the ones that are going to be coming in today.
Donetta: Me and my mother was at the gas station and they handed us a flyer. Tell your mom to stop by because we both need glasses.
Brad Fischer: For us, this is a great example of how to engage in the local community, but it also reinforces the importance of vision care in your overall health.
Dawn Yager: The eyes are the window to someone's health. You can identify other health problems, and diabetes is a big one that you can spot just by the condition of the health of the eye. And that's important, so we're checking that as well as the uncorrected vision errors.
Christina Nicastro: We had somebody in here yesterday with high pressure that had a sign of glaucoma, so for a variety of reasons, it's critically important to overall health.
Dawn Yager: We break every single individual part of the eye exam into a station, which enables us to see more people throughout the day.
Joshua Tomes: We check them for color blindness and depth perception, make sure everything there is fine. We'll check their glasses if they have them, see what they're wearing, and from there we do a test to see what their prescription might be. From there, we check the health of their eye and check the eye pressure to make sure there's no eye diseases. From there, we decide do they need glasses or do they not need glasses?
Speaker 7: I like the curvature of those a little bit more.
Dawn Yager: We have volunteers and optical professionals there to help choose the right frame that matches up to the prescription that the doctors have just written.
Christina Nicastro: The frame selection is the most rewarding, and we let them try on as many as they want.
Dawn Yager: We are in the lab and we have the ability to make most all single vision prescriptions on site. To be able to manufacture that right here on site and have them walk out with it is really important because the population we serve sometimes can be transient.
Christina Nicastro: One of the best things is the number of people that want to help and volunteer and be part of this. It's a great event.
Dawn Yager: We teach them how to do a station and they become part of the process, and ultimately, they then become part of the family and we keep working together year after year. What we find on the other end, they're asking for more: Can I come back tomorrow? When will you be here again? When's the next Aetna clinic?
Speaker 8: You're so welcome.
Shavon Mason: Thank you. It's inspiring because I'm able to be a part of such a phenomenal event that's able to give back to my community.
Joshua Tomes: To be able to make a difference and be able to help somebody with a skill that I have. We can't all fix all the big problems, but this is something I can help with. So, this is what I do. The OneSight clinic is always the highlight of my year. I mean, I look forward to it all year long.
Speaker 10: Your glasses.
Speaker 11: Thank you.
Christina Nicastro: This is the magical moment at dispensary when you don't realize you can't see. If you're walking around and you are like, oh, I'm fine, but when you put them on for the first time and everything almost has a sparkle to it, that's the most amazing moment.
Jonathan DaSilva: It was fantastic to see people who hadn't worn glasses ever, or people who had really old prescriptions put those glasses on. The smiles that came across their face. Everyone taking selfies, posting pictures.
Donetta: I love it. I'm really surprised. I can see now, so I'm excited and I thank you guys so much.
Speaker 12: I get my glasses in four weeks. I need bifocals. I like them.
Brad Fischer: It is life changing. You'll see that today at our event where either somebody didn't know they needed glasses or maybe they lost them and couldn't replace them. Like the opportunities to distribute those glasses and that end stop is really important for us.
Shavon Mason: Being from Philadelphia and being able to see the impact that's being made in my community is something that is, I can't even explain. It is also one of the biggest things that I've ever done in my life, and it's something that I'll never forget.
