Gil M. shares with us his recent experience as a VSP representative at “El Grito,” Mexican Independence Day. Gil works in IT and is a member of the VSP Latino Employee Resource Group in Sacramento.

The VSP Latino Employee Resource Group participated in the Mexican Independence Day, or “El Grito,” festivities in Sacramento,California, last week. We brought SeeZar, one of our Mobile Eyes clinics, to help educate attendees about the important role eyecare plays in a person’s healthcare routine as well as increase awareness about VSP charity programs. We were able to set up SeeZar right near the state capitol building where thousands of people saw us and came over to ask us questions.

Our main goal for participating was to connect VSP with the Mexican community. Of course, a 40-foot bus drew a lot of attention, so a lot of people came by to learn more about us! We even had some of the new Marchon 3D glasses, which were a hit with everyone. In addition to providing information about the importance of eyecare as well as VSP and its services, we provided 139 gift certificates for free eye exams and glasses to individuals who qualified for our Mobile Clinics charitable program. This was a value of more than $50,000 worth of exams and eyewear going to families in need! That made it all worth it.

View photos from the event.

We’re also excited to share a new milestone! VSP’s Sight for Students^® program, which provides low income and uninsured children with free eyecare, has helped more than 600,000 children receive an eye exam and glasses to correct vision- and health-related issues. More on this announcement.

In 1972, Dr. Marvin Poston was the first African American named "Optometrist of the Year" by the American Optometric Association, the highest professional award from the AOA.

VSP is known for quality service – whether providing eyecare to underprivileged through our number of charitable programs, ensuring patients have access to high-quality vision services or providing doctors with the tools they need to maintain successful private practices. This dedication to service can be directly attributed to the core philosophies of VSP’s founders, one of whom was Dr. Marvin R. Poston.

In 1935, Dr. Poston was the first African American student admitted to the study of optometry at University of California, Berkeley. It took another 23 years for the second African American student to follow in his footsteps and graduate from the Berkeley School of Optometry. Dr. Poston later became the first African American licensed to practice optometry on the West Coast.

Nearly 55 years ago, Dr. Poston, along with several of his fellow optometrists, formed California Vision Services, now known as VSP Vision Care. The company originally was the first to offer a prepaid, vision benefit that provided high quality, cost-effective eyecare. VSP has since grown to become the largest not-for-profit visions benefits provider in the nation, covering 1 in 6 Americans.

Dr. Poston’s optometry practice flourished for four decades in Oakland and Danville, California but his reach extended far beyond those who visited his offices. Befitting one of the founders of a company that prides itself on community support, Dr. Poston began his own tradition of community outreach by establishing vision-screening programs for under-served children and adults. The Children’s Vision Center of the East Bay, the West Oakland Health Group and the East Bay Skill Center are just a few of the organizations that benefited from his efforts.

Dr. Poston received numerous honors during his career, including the Optometric Man of the Year award by the Alameda Contra Costa Optometric Society and Optometrist of the Year by the California Optometric Association and the American Optometric Association. He was also appointed to three terms on the California State Board of Optometry by governors Edmund G. “Pat” Brown and Ronald Reagan. In each of these areas, Dr. Poston was the first African American ever to be honored.

“He was a man of great integrity,” says Norm Jacoby, O.D., a former colleague from Encino, California. “He was very soft-spoken and intelligent, and you listened when he spoke. Marvin was conscious of what new graduates needed when getting started in private practice and that they needed all the help they could get.”

This awareness led Dr. Poston to start Optometric Planning Service (OPS), a company that gave young optometric students access to the resources necessary to start their businesses properly. OPS evolved into Professional Health Management & Planning Services, Inc., which provided services for professionals new to a variety of healthcare fields.

After more than 40 years in optometry, Dr. Poston and his wife, Arlene, relocated to Calistoga, California to open Poston Crest Vineyard. As with his practice, Dr. Poston received recognition for his success as a vintner. In 2004, Wine Business Monthly featured him in an article about diversity in the industry titled “The Changing Face of the American Wine Industry.”

Dr. Poston is remembered as a generous individual and contributor to the success of VSP. “Dr. Poston’s passion for people and their vision is still alive in VSP’s corporate mission, values and the efforts of every doctor,” said Gary Brooks, VSP Vision Care’s president. “Through outreach programs such as VSP Mobile Eyes^® and Sight for Students^®, we continue his legacy of commitment to the community.”

After a satisfying life filled with professional and personal accomplishments, Dr. Poston died July 18, 2002 in St. Helena, California. He was 87 years old.

Guests had the opportunity to ask questions about diabetes, cycling and receive autographs and pictures with the local star during his last appearance stateside as he prepared to move to Paris, France, where he will be racing for the 2010 season.

Kyle interacted with the kids…”you get to ride bikes for a job??” “Do you ride bikes with Lance Armstrong?” “I have a purple bike…but it’s broke.” “I bet you need really good eyes to see where you are going.” “Have you crashed before?” (OK, this last question was actually me. And yes, he just finished healing from a gnarly crash where he was clipped by another rider, flipped over his handlebars into a ditch and broke multiple ribs!)

An amazing story was a woman who asked Kyle if he was wearing an insulin pump on the back of his arm. He said yes and proceeded to tell her the story of Team Type 1. She then proceeded to tell us about her husband, who also has Type 1 diabetes, and how cycling has saved his life by getting and keeping him active. It gave me goose bumps! Kyle provided her with information about Team Type 1 and encouraged her to have her husband reach out to the team.

We were all so grateful to have Kyle take time out of his busy day to join us for a few hours (he literally was packing up the last of his things to get shipped across the Atlantic just 72 hours after the event!).

Be sure to stay tuned as we post a series of videos featuring Kyle as he shares with us how an eye exam led to the early detection of his diabetes and how he continues to use annual eye exams to help manage and monitor his diabetes. And be sure to follow him while he’s in France on twitter and Facebook!

Will B. works in VSP’s Customer Service department, part of our fabulous team that achieved the prestigious Service Quality Measurement, Inc. (SQM) Award of “World Class Customer Satisfaction” for the seventh year in a row! He shares his experience as a first time Mobile Response Team (MRT) member with the VSP Mobile Eyes® program.

I was fortunate enough to be selected to go on the last Mobile Eyes trip for 2009 and am quickly experiencing first hand, the work is truly some of the most rewarding work I have done with VSP.

We are half way done with our trip to Central California, and so far everything is running smoothly.  Before the trip, I had a general idea of what to expect.  I was impressed that we have most everything onboard that you would find in a VSP doctor’s office.  We can read the prescription off the patient’s current glasses, we can test for Glaucoma and even do an auto-refraction for the doctor.  The VSP doctors who come on board and provide the exams have everything they need to complete a comprehensive exam.  They even dilate patient’s eyes if they need to get a closer look.

Every patient we have encountered has been very gracious.  Many of our patients had either lost their glasses or their glasses were in disrepair.  Some patients had not seen an eye doctor for many years and in a few cases, had not visited an eye doctor for over a decade!  We have been thanked many times over for the service we are providing them. Our community partner has been equally thankful for the service we are able to provide.

So far, I have been able to pre-test patients, help with frame selection and submit orders on Eyefinity.  I have also learned how to set up and tear down the clinic. What a process!

It’s very rewarding to be part of the Mobile Response Team.  I feel a sense of pride working for a company that is actively reaching out to the community to provide a much-needed service, especially during a time when the number of people in need is greater than ever.  I am looking forward to the rest of our trip and many trips to come in the future!

I haven’t been to the Exploratorium since my own grade school field trip.  As I stepped into the spacious, interactive museum in San Francisco during the recent Eye See: Free Day with VSP Vision Care, I was reminded what a unique educational landmark the Exploratorium is – an exhibit hall filled will hands-on experiments that are not just educational, but entertaining (for kids and adults)!

Our main objective for the day was to expose students to the wonders of our eyes and to promote the importance of regular eye exams. And just as importantly, we were responsible for making sure the kids had fun. As volunteers, we were supplied with glue, scissors, crayons, plastic wrap, newspaper, water and a half dozen interactive experiments that the students could attempt with these every day household items. I felt like Bill Nye the Science Guy as I led the students, ages 3 to 15, through the optical illusions and educational experiments that explained the color detecting cells in our eyes or how drops of water can act as a natural magnifying glass. I must admit I learned a few things myself.

As the students left our activities area, it was quite rewarding to receive the chorus of thank you’s from each class. Every participant went home with a VSP branded bag filled with their new discoveries that they could now wow their parents and siblings with. I can only hope that they learned as much as I did; and had as much fun.

Editors Note: Looking for cool eyecare activities for the doctor’s office, classroom or home? Check out the VSP/Exploratorium Eyecare Discovery Guide available for free download!

Jill N. is a member of VSP's Corporate Public Relations team.

VSP network Dr. Dennis Delp of Shiloh Eye Care Center in York, PA, has been volunteering his time once a week for the last 20 years with ForSight Vision Center, a not-for-profit serving its community by providing quality, specialized services and opportunities designed to prevent, prepare for and manage loss of vision.

Dr. Delp volunteered with us during our fifth community event providing exams with the clinic back in November of 2007 and we were happy to partner with him again last month when he called to ask for our support of during this important inaugural event with ForSight. Listen to Dr. Delp as he speaks to the results of the event and the impact it had on the community.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Green Dot New York students, Lori, and Liz.

SeeZar at Green Dot New York in the Bronx.

David Wakefield is a VSP Friends and Family driver and husband of VSP employee, Shelly Wakefield. He shares his experience during his first event with the Mobile Eyes team in York, PA.

I came into this event with a blend of curiosity and apprehension, not really sure what to expect.  The team was fired up and putting together their game plan and I followed along hoping to be useful and not in the way.  We were scheduled to see 102 people today which would be a new record for a one day event.  I found that everyone, from the VSP team to the doctors and rotary volunteers, were all motivated to work together to overcome the unknowns to make this event a success.

We set up and were ready to begin right on schedule.  The patients began to trickle in and we were blessed with a slow but steady warm up.  We were wondering if the bad weather would be keeping the people away, but we soon found that the need to see outweighed the desire to stay dry and the long lines began to form.  I was tasked with operating the auto-refractor and had the opportunity to experience the personalities of every patient who came in.  The mix of emotions was astounding but everyone had one thing in common, they wanted to be able to see.

I remember one young girl who could not read the first line on the E chart and thinking how amazing it would be to be with her when she puts on her new glasses and walks outside for the first time.  It was difficult to contain the mix of emotions, so I stopped trying and just enjoyed the time.

There was a family that really stood out with most of us working there.  The parents had two sons, one in seventh grade and the other about three years old.  The youngest boy was so full of curiosity and wonder that he immediately attracted our attention.  He followed his big brother around through the process and was so involved in watching that he was frequently underfoot, but none of us seemed to mind.  He even sat on my lap as I did the auto-refraction on his brother.  It was fun to be able to share it all with this child.  Finally it came to be his turn and there was no holding him back.  He sat very still, following my every instruction.  At one point there were so many people watching him that he became distracted and started to watch the spectators.  Everyone left the room and watched though the door as I finished testing him.  When we got the final OK on his test he gave me a double high five and the whole place erupted in cheers.

This was a profound moment for me.  I saw 91 people today and every single one had their own story, their own happiness, their own sadness.  The one thing they all had in common was they were happy we were there for them.  I am thankful to be a part of this VSP team which gives me an opportunity to give back to those in our communities who need it the most.

Kim R. is on the VSP Mobile Clinic team.

Last week, the mobile clinic was in Charleston, SC at Crisis Ministries helping their clients.  We had patients scheduled, and we have been able to see all of them and take the walk up patients.  The word spread quickly through out the community and each day we had people lined up waiting for us when we arrived!  The people here are so gracious and thankful for the services being provided.  Some have walked miles and waited all day to be seen!  Each and everyone of the patients we have seen have required glasses!
These clients have shared their stories with us.  One of them was living in San Diego, owned his own business and home!  However, due to the economy he lost everything.  He took the last bit of his savings and started heading East.  He spent some time in TX and recently ended up here in Charleston.  This kind gentleman has such a great attitude and said “as long as I wake up, I know it is going to be a great day”.  He has been homeless over 3 years.

Another gentleman had been a Navy SEAL for 7 years and was discharged honorably.  He said that he made some poor choices and has ended up homeless.  He also has a positive attitude and is using the services of Crisis Ministries to get back on his feet and be able to support himself.

It is heartwarming to hear their stories and that they want to get back on their feet.  The hugs and the many thanks we have received is the best part of this job!

Thank you to all VSP providers who volunteered their time aboard the clinic last week: Mason Smith OD, Paul Bohac OD, Melvin Watsky OD, Donald Koets OD, Keith Farley OD, David Bodkin OD, Jennifer Smith OD, Robert Wild OD, and Philip Reiheld OD.