National Optometric Association Conference Community Outreach in Philadelphia

The National Optometric Association (NOA) hosted a “serve where you go” event while in town for its national convention July 11-14, 2024. Sponsored by VSP Vision, a vision care health insurance company, the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO),Salus at Drexel served as the host institution. Optometrists from VSP, who were NOA members or alumni of PCO in addition to PCO faculty, residents and optometric interns provided complimentary vision care services and eyeglasses to approximately 145 community members at Dr. Ala Stanford’s Center for Health Equity (ASHE).

PCO Doctor of Optometry students, who rotate through The Eye Institute, the program’s clinical teaching facility, assisted on site at 2001 W. Lehigh Avenue.“They’re getting to work one-on-one with an experienced doctor who has done this in the past,” added Dr. Brandy Scombordi-Raghu, director of The Eye Institute’sOptometric Clinical Outreach.

The NOA is composed primarily of underrepresented minority optometrists and students of optometry (particularly African-American) throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Its mission is to provide assistance to all established organizations of optometry toward the advancement of the art, science, and practice of professional optometry.

“This initiative is based on meeting the needs of the unrepresentative minority, " said Doctor Sherrol Reynolds, past president of the NOA. “It is part of our mission to advance the visual health of the minority population, which helps us to serve our patients.