NIH Hands Out 2011 HVCA Grants to 15

"Working in Appalachia and Harlem, serving toddlers and seniors, the 2011 Healthy Vision Community Awards (HVCA) winners are committed to making eye health and vision priorities in their communities. HVCA, sponsored by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is a unique program that provides awards up to $10,000 to make a difference in communities across the Nation by supporting grassroots eye health education. This seed money supplies the spark that gets projects started, which are then sustained through community partnerships," so starts the NIH press release. Here's a list of the 2011 HVCA recipients:

• Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind, Resea, Calif., for the Vision Screening and Education Program.
  
• Tulare Community Health Clinic, Tulare, Calif., for the Healthy Vision Promotora Project.
  
• Blindness Prevention Program of the Stout Street Eye Clinic, Denver.
  
• J.C. Lewis Primary Healthcare Center, Inc., Savannah, Ga., for the Diabetic Vision Health Program for the Homeless and Uninsured.
  
• North Central Kentucky Area Health Education Center, Park Hills, for Hispanic Awareness Glaucoma Project/Proyecto Hispanico de Educacion en Glaucoma.
  
• St. Joseph Health System, Tawas City, Mich., for the Don't Lose Focus project.
  
• Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation, Columbia, for Promoting Glaucoma Detection Screenings to the Hispanic Population.
  
• Lighthouse International, New York, N.Y., for Empowering Senior Center Staff to Facilitate Retinal Exams in High-Risk Older Adult Communities in Harlem and East Harlem.
  
• North Dakota Optometric Association, Bismarck, for Eating for Your Eyes II: Diabetic Retinopathy.
  
• New View Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, for the Adapted Type 2 Diabetes Education Program for Persons with Vision Impairment.
  
• El Paso Diabetes Association, Brentwood, Texas, to conduct the Diabetic Eye Disease Education and Poster Contest.
  
• TEAMability, Inc., San Antonio, for Implementing Rehabilitation for Children Having Cortical Visual Impairments: CVI Challenge.
  
• Fourth Street Clinic, Salt Lake City, for the Diabetes Eye Disease Education and Prevention Program for Homeless Utahns.
  
• Rural Health Outreach Program, Arrington, Va., of the Blue Ridge Medical Center.
  
• The Larry Joe Harless Community Center, Gilbert, W. Va., for the Rural Appalachian Vision and Eye Screening (RAVE) program.
  

Visit www.nei.nih.gov/hvca for more information about the HVCA program and to learn more about these projects.