The Baltimore City Health Department’s Hearing and Vision Team has provided 20,000 state-mandated hearing and vision screening services to students at first entry into Baltimore City Public Schools and during the 3^rd and 8^th grades. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, in addition to screening students in the mandated grades, the Hearing and Vision Team also began providing vision screenings through the Vision for Baltimore Program.

Vision for Baltimore is a three-year initiative with City Schools, Johns Hopkins University, Vision to Learn, and Warby Parker. The program helps thousands of pre-K through 8^th grade students in Baltimore City Schools receive free vision screenings and eyeglasses. The Vision for Baltimore Program will offer these services to City School students who need them, through the end of the 2018-2019 school year. After students receive their glasses, a group of researchers from Johns Hopkins University collect data that measures the impact of vision services on the students’ academic performance, such as in standardized testing and reading assessments.

Since September 2016, approximately 34,000 additional students across 100 Baltimore City schools have received vision screenings provided by the Team. Of the 12,000 children that failed the vision screening conducted by the Team, approximately 4,300 of those students received glasses at no out-of-pocket cost to their families.

Many members of the Team have been providing hearing and vision screenings to students for ten years or more. The team members are described by those they come in contact with as hardworking, dedicated, and inspired by the work that they do.

“Seeing students who previously failed a screening with new glasses or hearing devices has been inspiring to me. Knowing that the program that I am a part of played a part in helping a student see or hear better is amazing,” said Hearing and Vision Tester, Leashia Branch. 

The Team is also tasked with reaching out to the parents or guardians of students who fail the screenings and providing services to ensure that the students receive necessary follow-up treatment. 

“The most important thing about the Hearing and Vision Program is it helps some parents who are not aware that their child/children may have vision or hearing issues,” said Hearing and Vision Tester, Tiffany Sye.

In addition to the immediate improvement of vision when students wear their new glasses, there are other long-term benefits that students experience. Students given new glasses benefit from improved hand-eye coordination, fewer headaches, more interest in and comfort with reading, better grades, and improved behavior, which also results in the advancement of their personal and academic growth.

“This program is very important because we help children who don’t even know they have a problem, they think it’s normal to see in blurred vision or not to hear everything,” said Angela Boyd, Hearing and Vision Tester.

View a PBS story about the Health Department’s Vision for Baltimore program here.

Click here to learn more about Vision for Baltimore.