Prevent Blindness Texas Eye Health and Vision Programs
It's your eye health experts, Prevent Blindness Texas, and welcome to Eyespiring, a conversation about all things vision and life. Welcome to Eyespiring with Prevent Blindness Texas, where we talk about all things vision and life. I'm Heather Patrick, the CEO and your host. We're so glad you're here today. Who is PBT?
Heather Patrick:Let me tell you a little bit about us. We're a public health agency that is focused on vision. We work across the state in all communities, serving all populations to help people get access to vision care and learn more about how vision connects to overall health. We work with partners, volunteers, our board, and our amazing staff of nine. Last year we screened over 50,000 individuals across the state.
Heather Patrick:So we are so glad you're here and welcome. Today I have a special guest. So Monica Guerrero is our VP of Programs and Community Outreach at Prevent Blindness Texas. Monica has been with the organization over twenty years, so she has great institutional knowledge and an interesting perspective of the organization and how we changed over the last twenty plus years. So I'm going to let Monica tell more about her story and herself. Monica.
Monica Guerrero:Thank you, Heather. Hi everyone. My name is Monica Guerrero and I'm happy to be here today on our podcast for Prevent Blindness Texas. Like Heather mentioned, I've been with Prevent Blindness Texas for over twenty years and I always tell people it was sort of an accident. It wasn't meant to be that way, but I walked in one day, I actually had received an email to volunteer and I came into the PBT office. It was our original office on Dallas Street.
Monica Guerrero:And came in, they needed some vision screeners and also translators to help translate at some of the community events that they were participating in. And the receptionist said, Hey, just wanted to let you know that our part time children's vision screener is about to she's about to go to a different state and she was moving with her family. Would you be interested in applying? I said, Sure. And that's kind of how it started.
Monica Guerrero:It was sort of by accident. It wasn't meant to be that way, but it was. And then the rest is history. So started off part time and then took on a couple of full time positions. And I've been able to be with an organization starting off at the Dallas office and then our Waugh Drive and then now where our current home is at.
Monica Guerrero:But it's been nice to see our team get smaller, but I feel like our mission keeps growing. And I think, you know, that's something to be said about the team of nine that Heather just mentioned that we work with, that it's not always about the number of staff that you have, but just the passion that you have for working with the community and just really finding ways to help expand what we do on a daily basis.
Heather Patrick:Great. All right. So we're going to ask some questions to you. Why is eye health important to you?
Monica Guerrero:Working with our team, community partners, our clients, I've learned that eye health is a lot more than just about getting a pair of glasses, but it really is about making the connection between vision and our overall well-being. And so one of the, you know, one of the things that I always like to do whenever we have our children's vision screening trainings is always start the class by asking who wears glasses or who wears contact lenses.
Monica Guerrero:And, you know, I wait to see the number of hands that are raised in the class. And then I always follow with the question, what would your day look like if you did not come today without your glasses or your contacts? Would you be able to make it through the day? Would you be able to drive here? And most of the responses are, I wouldn't even be able to get here today.
Monica Guerrero:And so I think always asking them that question really brings home why they're there that day to be able to help us screen children, adults, whoever we're training for, but really brings home the mission and why their work is so important, not just for what they're doing for the community, but how they're helping PBT forward our mission.
Monica Guerrero:And then I think it also really helps to bring home the message of there's so many people out there that are unaware that they have a vision problem and screening can be seen as something so simple, but it's actually a huge major step in a lot of people receiving eye care that they've never received or maybe are unaware that they have a vision problem. So I always tell them, you know, your value as a vision screener and community partner and volunteer for prevent blindness just makes it even more important.
Heather Patrick:So last year, ballpark, out of the number we screened, what percentage had never had a vision screening before or gone to the eye doctor?
Monica Guerrero:I know for our adults, more than fifty percent of the adults that we screen had never had any eye exam. And we were the first entry into any kind of eye care. I think just the conversation alone of what's an eye screening, what's an eye exam was the first time for a lot of the clients that we served. And that's huge. Yeah.
Monica Guerrero:You know, for the kids, especially post COVID, we know a lot of kids have not received a vision screening since before 2020. And there's such a shortage of nurses and health services staff that we know a lot of kids have not received screenings in a good while. And I think that's why it's even more important for us to be able to focus on the areas that we focus on. So it's not just adults, but also children and also the parents knowing the importance of their children receiving the screening and any follow-up that they may need.
Heather Patrick:So who inspires you?
Heather Patrick:I always say my first source of inspiration is my parents. And then, you know, that family has grown into my husband and my daughter and, you know, they're my primary source of inspiration for many reasons. But and of course I have other people around me, my friends, my family, my extended family. I'm born and raised in Houston, I'm fortunate that all my family is from here. Almost all of them live here.
Monica Guerrero:And so I see them on a regular basis, sometimes too much. Hope they're not listening. But I think the root of my inspiration started at home. That So would include my parents and my siblings. And then now to include my husband and my daughter.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, your daughter is amazing. So is your husband. Thank you. Your daughter is amazing. So what are you passionate about inside and outside of work?
Monica Guerrero:You know, for me, I always say, it's a hard question. You know, I'm passionate about always finding ways to help others. Feel like I've been fortunate in growing up and having what I have. And I think that there are a lot of people that lack resources and we see it every day, especially in our clients that we serve. And so for me, it's really trying to find a way to help others that need help.
Monica Guerrero:And then, you know, follow, you know, my family, I always say my passion, they're just not my source of inspiration, but they're also my passion. I think they're the fuel that gives me the passion to keep going. And so we're always trying to find ways to help others and to show that and to pass that on to my daughter, to show that it's not just about receiving, but it's also about giving. And I think that's a big part of the reason why I work in the nonprofit world. I feel like it's what we do every day.
Monica Guerrero:It's in some form or fashion, whether it's going out in the community, doing screenings, writing a grant to help fund programs, maybe working with a new partner who could help us serve a different area that we haven't touched yet. There's always something to do. And I think that's something that I always try to relay to the team also and to my direct reports that, you know, the program team that it's just, it's a lot more, it's more than just, you know, what we get paid to do, but it's really about really loving what you do.
Heather Patrick:So on that, what makes you work hard every day? On the days that you wanna give it up, what brings you back? What's your why?
Monica Guerrero:My why. I am a working mom, so I always admired the fact that my mom was a full time working mom with four children and she made it happen every day. I'm also proud to say that she's a first generation Hispanic high school graduate and college graduate, and that's a big thing for me. Because I see a lot of my friends who are in the same situation that my mother was in, but I'm fortunate to be in the second generation. But I saw her get up every day and she was a teacher for over thirty years and to see her just do it, I mean, and to make it look so simple.
Monica Guerrero:You know, I think even back in the late 70s and 80s, was still kind of uncommon, especially in her situation to be a college educated Hispanic female. But to see that my friends were also like, wow, your mom works? She's got a college degree? Like I didn't really realize the importance of that until I started seeing it for myself. So just to see her get up every day and do it and make it look so easy, it doesn't, it makes it easier for me to get up every day and do it.
Monica Guerrero:And then, you know, my daughter says, you know, when I work, so it's nice to see that she sees it as an inspiration because she's already telling me I wanna be a full time working mom and that's okay, whatever she decides to do, but to know that she sees it as a pro and not a con is it's a win for me.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, yeah. Good, good. All right. So tell us a little bit about your role. You know, over the years how it's evolved.
Monica Guerrero:So my main role is to manage the coordination, implementation, execution of the program statewide.
Heather Patrick:And so what are our programs? So for everybody listening that may not know kind of the specifics, kind of what are our buckets? What are our programs?
Monica Guerrero:So our big buckets that we always talk about are education. So we promote eye health and safety education for both children and adults. We also do vision screening training. We like to brag about that we're an external instructor for the state to be able to conduct certified children with vision screenings to ensure that state mandated vision screenings are completed. We also have our National Adult Vision Screening Certification, which we're able to train community partners, staff, volunteers, anybody interested in becoming a certified adult vision screener.
Monica Guerrero:We do vision screening. So I feel like Prevent Blindness is really known for our vision screening piece. We provide certified children and adult vision screenings statewide. And then we also provide navigation services and financial resources. So that could include applying for a free eye exam, a free pair of glasses.
Monica Guerrero:And now we're finding that a lot of our clients may need navigation for other treatment needs that are being found by receiving the eye exam that we're helping to provide.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. Good. All right. So tell us about your role. So those are kind of the big buckets. So awareness, advocacy and access, right? So then how does your role work with mission delivery?
Monica Guerrero:So I'm responsible for coordination, implementation, making sure that our programs are executed, supervising our program team, which we have a great program team that does a lot of great work. Honestly, I don't think we could do a lot of the work that we do without the cohesiveness of our program team and just how we just kind of all know how to jump in together and finish each other's sentences and just make it happen. And then a big part is also analyzing where we currently serve, but where we could be serving. And I always say Texas is a big state. We're a small team, but I know there's a lot more work that has to be done and people are always gonna have vision problems.
Monica Guerrero:So our work, even if we're already serving there, there's always something more that we could be doing. So even in the areas that we're currently serving, it's always trying to figure out what can we do to help you more? Like how can we expand what we're currently doing? So we're just doing screening. Maybe it's adding education, maybe it's adding resources, maybe it's adding training, but really trying to find out, how can we spread our spider web?
Monica Guerrero:That's kind of like how I like to see it. Our spider web of what we're currently doing, especially because post COVID we're seeing such an increase in, especially in children who need glasses. Just the other day I asked my daughter how many kids in your class wear glasses? And I think out of her class of like 17, I think like six or seven of them are currently wearing eyeglasses. And that's who we know need eyeglasses, right?
Monica Guerrero:We don't really know who does not wear eyeglasses, who needs to be wearing eyeglasses. So it's just really trying to help and expand our mission statewide. And I think for us, it's not just about doing the service, but it's really helping to make people change their behavior about eye health and really understand what is the connection between vision and overall health and learning and doing better in school behavior. So many other things that are connected to just the work that we're doing.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. So why does it matter so much to you? Why it is unusual to be in the nonprofit industry and stay long. Twenty plus years is almost unheard of in this day and age. So why does it matter so much to you to be in the community, to connect people to this mission? Why?
Monica Guerrero:For me, I think it's just because I just know that so much work needs to be done. And I think accessibility is a big thing. I know that we're providing the screening, but I know that there's so many people who don't have access to care in Texas, especially because there are so many rural areas, underserved areas. And I just feel like we can always do more. But it's just really helping to make people understand why is vision so important.
Monica Guerrero:And I think that's, I feel like that messaging is still not there. Like we still need to do more to make people understand what's the real connection. And every time we do our educational presentations, I tell people it's not just about your eyeglasses, but it's more than that. Especially right now in Texas with the rising cases of diabetes, blood pressure, so many other chronic conditions that are connected to vision. Like I said, like even with diabetes, when I hear people do diabetes educations or give diabetes education, they never talk about vision.
Monica Guerrero:And I just think it's also something too that it's not really talked about from our community partner standpoint, and they really don't think about it until it's too late. And so for a lot of the clients, I think once they start seeing blurry or they can't see, then that's when they start getting concerned. And I think vision needs to be something that we need to be proactive about versus like when it's too late.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. So how have you seen your role grow and expand, especially over like the last decade? What does that change look like for you?
Monica Guerrero:Well, we've gone When I first started, we had 13 offices statewide. Maybe some of those offices didn't need to be there, but it was time to condense some of the work that we were doing. So we've definitely gone smaller, but I think as we've gotten smaller, I feel like our work has gotten bigger. And I think a lot of it too, Heather, is because of when you came in, we really changed focus on how we were providing services, but how we can think bigger.
Heather Patrick:And
Monica Guerrero:so I think that was a good thing for us because I think our first reaction was, Oh gosh, we're not gonna be able to do this. There's just a few of us. But when you really sit down and plan out what we need to be doing, it can be done. We just have to work smarter. And I think that's the thing.
Monica Guerrero:We have to work smarter. And when you work smarter and when you have the right team and when you have the right people in place and it took a while, it just didn't happen overnight. I mean, I've been, Heather, you and I have been working together for almost eight years. I mean, we know that it takes a while to sometimes get the right team in place, but once you have the right people in place, anything can happen.
Heather Patrick:Agreed. Which I think that's, we've proven that.
Monica Guerrero:Yep.
Heather Patrick:We have proven that.
Monica Guerrero:Absolutely.
Heather Patrick:Alright. Okay. Alright. So, now we're going to talk a little bit more about PBT and the programs in-depth. So what do you think makes I us unique
Monica Guerrero:I think that we can provide a little bit of everything and that we have a menu of options to be able to provide to our partners. I think our partners are always amazed at the different things that we can do versus just screening. Like I just mentioned in the beginning, I think people think of prevent blindness as a screening organization. But once we start telling them, well, we screen, we educate, we train, we advocate, there's so many other things that we can do. And I think it opens up a different perspective for them, for us to be able to see how is it that we can better partner with them versus just prevent blindness coming in and screening.
Monica Guerrero:So I think being able to provide a continuum of eye care is really good. And for us to be able to pick and choose what works better for the partner, because it doesn't work the same for everybody. And so whenever we start our partner meetings and we do our virtual introductions or our in person introductions, I tell them the way we work with somebody is not going be the same way that we work with somebody else. So you tell us how is it that we can work better for you and for your clients. And if it works, then what can we do to help grow that part?
Monica Guerrero:So I think just that we're able to do a little bit of everything and that we're statewide. There's so many organizations that are just focused on one region and people are always amazed that we serve the whole state. So even if we're not physically located there, we find a way to be there. Whether we have staff or not, we find a way to recruit volunteers, to recruit volunteer groups, community health workers, or just simply us going in person. I think people are always amazed too that we travel on-site to them and they just always feel so grateful for us to be able to provide that service to an area where maybe no other organization can or has been willing to.
Monica Guerrero:So just the other day we worked with one of our partners. It was in a rural part and she was so happy. And I said, are you happy about our services? She's like, I'm just happy that you came here. Like nobody pays attention to us.
Monica Guerrero:And I think it's really nice for Prevent Blindness to be able to come and make the time, make the investment to come and really help our community where a lot of organizations don't come. So I think for me that was special.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, that's good. That's really good. I the people we have also make us unique. I think that one of the reasons we've been able to grow as quickly as we have is because of the team we have in terms of service, right? And response and just that, that passion and dedication that we do go to, we get on the plane, we go to wherever you need us to go, we get in the car and we do it in person.
Heather Patrick:And we did it virtually over COVID. We made that but it's just something about connection, right? And when people ask me often what we do and we can list out all the different things and we do a lot, but ultimately we connect people to what they need in some way, shape or form. And I love that about our organization, right? Because ultimately whatever way we cut it, we're connecting people back to hope.
Heather Patrick:Hope that they can get the care they need, hope that they can build the sustainability and capacity to screen, to learn, to elevate vision, to help take care of the children in the school or their adult clients. And I just, I love that about this organization and about this team and the board and the volunteers. There's just this thread that just brings us all together wrapped around the connection that I think we bring. And I just think that if I had to pick one word to define PBT, I would say connection. All right, so we've talked a little bit about the programs in particular.
Heather Patrick:So do you think, so tell me about kind of one of the partners that stands out in your mind and on the other side, tell me maybe about a client that stands out for you.
Monica Guerrero:I think the client story that always stands out to me is probably the second might have been the first or second year that I was working with PBT. But I'll never forget this lady because she came in and we had provided a voucher for her daughter to get glasses. And, you know, I'm assuming she, you know, she needed the financial help to be able to get the examined glasses. And so she came in, she rang the doorbell and I went to the front area and she brought a stack of pancakes. And I'll never forget that because at first they were all wrapped in foil and I didn't know what it was.
Monica Guerrero:I was what is this? And she's like, well, I didn't have anything else to give you, but I made you a stack of pancakes and I made the time to come and deliver it to you because I don't think you understand how much that voucher meant to me and my family that my daughter was able to get her exam and glasses and be able to do better in school, but I can't give anything else. So if anything, this is what I wanna give you. And I'll never forget that because at first I was like pancakes, but anyway, know, and then, you know, but once I stood back and I thought, you know, this pancake, and they were pretty good actually. They're pretty tasty.
Monica Guerrero:Some of the best stack of pancakes I've ever had. But it was the fact that she took the time to come over there and say thank you in person was extremely valuable for me just because she didn't have to do that. She didn't have to do that. And I also know that she was trying to find a way to give back and that was her way of giving back. That was the only way she could give back.
Monica Guerrero:And so I'll never forget that because it really made an impact on the work that we do the long lasting impact that it has on the family that we're helping to provide this service for.
Heather Patrick:All right, so we've talked about a client that left an impression. So tell me some of the, you know, who stands out in your mind as some of our best partners. I mean, they're all great, but like what kind as they've evolved and the relationship is involved, who stands out in your mind?
Monica Guerrero:Yeah, like you just said, I think they all have something very special about them, but for me, one of the partners or regions that stands out would probably be when we started doing programs in the Valley, in the Rio Grande Valley. And we've been partnering with them since I think it's 2006 And I'll never forget, first of all, I had never been to the Valley. So you just kind of fly over it, but never actually spend time there. And we did a huge training. And I think for me, was just how open the partners were to an organization that didn't belong in their region or was not physically present in their region, but they gave us a chance.
Monica Guerrero:And I think for me, that was a big thing because it really showed that they trusted what we said we were gonna do in the community and that what we were gonna deliver and that they knew that there was such a huge need for vision, something that other organizations had not been able to bring in our capacity. Right. But to really help expand the vision part in a lot of existing programs already. And since 2006, we've been providing services there and I feel like they've been some of our most thoughtful and receptive partners and grateful. Think that's the word grateful.
Monica Guerrero:They're so grateful at the work that we're able to provide for their community and the services and knowing that they continue to trust us, knowing that we're not physically there, but that we can bring the services to them. And I think for me, was a big deal. Just the fact that they trusted our work was enough for me to say, you know, this is this is really good.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then as you look at across the state, maybe one of our newer partners.
Monica Guerrero:I always like to focus on the on the rural areas. I think it's an area that we started working with right before COVID and then services kind of pause a little, but I always think about the Victoria, Matagorda County area. They're so close to Houston yet there's not enough resource there. Or maybe they're just not close enough for the client to be able to get to, or maybe have as accessible as we do. I think one of the things that we take for granted in some of the major cities in Texas, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio is that we have an eye doctor a few minutes away from us.
Monica Guerrero:And I think we don't stop to think that so many other towns and counties and cities in Texas don't have the accessibility to eye care the way we do. And so we know for a lot of our clients that we screen there that they're having to drive thirty, forty miles. And for them it's okay because they're used to it.
Monica Guerrero:They're used to having to drive thirty to forty five minutes to get any kind of healthcare. For us, it seems kind of weird just because we can get to it so quickly. But the fact that we're just able to provide the option for them is it's big.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. I think about Fort Worth too and our partnership with Fort Worth ISD and how that's grown over the years too. And it's just amazing to watch. Again, we start with one thing and then, you know, all these different things evolve and we're able to do so much more. And I just, I think that's, I think that's the really cool thing about what we do too, is we get to grow together.
Heather Patrick:And that, that is pretty impactful when you have a partnership and you find different opportunities to have impact together and your work grows. That is something that I think is incredible about this organization and the partnerships we have is we really do grow together and grow our impact together.
Monica Guerrero:Yeah. And I think it's something to be said to whenever we work with a partner and then they refer somebody else to work with I think it says a lot about our character, how we deliver services and that if they can trust us to work with them, they know that they can trust us to work with somebody else. And so always having that referral from a partner, I feel is bigger than us looking for a new partner.
Heather Patrick:Yep, Yep. Yeah. It's that word-of-mouth, right? I mean, it is, but it comes back to what I said earlier in terms of, I think the team just delivers service and I think it comes through the way we do our work, how much we care about the work we do, and the people we are serving and partnering with. I really do think that is across the board, the team.
Heather Patrick:That is a reflection of we really love who we're working with. And I just think that is one of the reasons we continue to grow too, is to your point, people trust us to get the job done and we want to get the job done because we want to make impact. We want to change and solve the issue.
Monica Guerrero:Right. And I think that was also very noticeable whenever COVID happened. So during COVID, a lot of our services were paused because eye doctors were not able to see patients. But I think that when we approached some of our partners to start doing our telehealth screenings or our telehealth eye health risk assessments, they trusted that we were gonna do things a different way, but we were still gonna do it. And that was big.
Monica Guerrero:And not everybody came on board and that was okay because we had a lot of organizations that maybe had to stop services completely because of but the ones that were able to continue services trusted us to be able to still find a different way or a different avenue to provide eye care into their community. And then just helping relay the message to the community that Prevent Blindness is gonna do it differently, but don't worry, they're gonna do it. They're gonna get it done for you. And that was big because without the trust of our partners, we cannot do our work.
Heather Patrick:Agreed, agreed. So talk a little bit about, we keep talking about vision screening, So kind of walk us through like an adult vision screening. What does that look like for anyone in the audience that hasn't kind of got through that process? Many people listening probably just go to the eye doctor. But for us, we really look at vision screening kind of as that entry point because most of the people we work with have not gone to the eye doctor or have an eye doctor.
Heather Patrick:So tell them a little bit, walk them through kind of just the process of our screening and specifically like the health risk component.
Monica Guerrero:Yeah. So most of our adult vision screenings are done at coordinated events. So we work in coordination with community partners to set up a day where we come out and do vision screenings. But it starts with our adult clients filling out an eye health risk intake form or a registration form, and they answer a series of questions. They also provide us demographic information, personal information, name, age, you know, where they live in case we have to follow-up with a resource.
Monica Guerrero:And then we follow-up with our eye health risk assessment questions. So these questions are basic yes or no questions, but they actually are pretty, they're very important whenever it comes to the screening part. And I think it's things that people don't really stop to think about. So some of the questions could include, do you have diabetes? So there's a lot of people that don't ever see the connection between diabetes and vision.
Monica Guerrero:We hear it all the time where people with diabetes say, I woke up one day and I couldn't see, but maybe nobody ever talked to me about it. Or maybe it's something as simple as, are you over the age of 65? So I think for us, it's also making the connection between vision problems and natural aging. Aging eye disease is something that we educate a lot on. When was your last eye exam?
Monica Guerrero:Which always seems to be the most complicated question for a lot of our clients. But I think for a lot of our clients, it could be something that maybe they have a fear of answering. I think it's the fear of judgment of who's behind the form, who's actually reading the response. But for a lot of our clients, you know, they've never had an eye exam or maybe it's been more than five years for different reasons. It could be financial, lack of transportation.
Monica Guerrero:A lot of our clients are uninsured, so they don't have any kind of access to any type of healthcare. And then followed by distance and near visual acuity. So this is where we screen for distance, near. We check to see if they're passing at the line they should be passing at or not passing. And then based on those two different sections, we determine whether or not the client is failing because of risk assessment or risk factors and or visual acuity.
Monica Guerrero:I would say a large majority of our adult clients, even though they're not failing for acuity, they're failing because of risk factors. And the simple fact that they've never had an eye exam is a huge risk factor for PBT. I think the importance of getting an eye exam, especially comprehensive eye exam, which is part of our public health messaging, is that it's not about just getting a piece of paper with a prescription to get a pair of eyeglasses, but so many of our clients write to us and these success stories come back and they're talking about, I had no idea. I had blood pressure, high blood pressure until I got a dilated eye exam. I had no idea.
Monica Guerrero:I was pre diabetic until the optometrist said, you know, hey, maybe you should go see your doctor. I think you might be pre diabetic or could be diabetic already. There's thyroid disease. There's so many other health conditions that are affected with your vision. And, you know, it really helps to open the door to your your general health. Right. And just how healthy you could be as a person.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, I think that's a great way to frame it. It opens the door for conversation. And I think that is the most important, Whether you're coming to our screenings, whether you already have an eye doctor, but it's just really understanding, again, unless we come back to this word, but connection between eye health and overall health. I think it empowers you to ask those questions related to vision and your overall health. I think that if you take nothing else away from the conversation is really, you know, we want you to understand there definitely is that connection between what's going on with your eyes and the rest of your body.
Heather Patrick:There are so many things that, you know, your eyes really, you know, they say they're the windows to your soul. I do believe that in many ways, but I also think they're definitely the windows to your health too. And so I think for all of our audience, it's really important that for us, you understand that there's just this major connection between eye health and your overall health. All right. So talk a little bit about kind of on that line, the different education things that we do, and maybe even, you know, the experience of the solar eclipse and how we, work through that and work with all different groups to educate about that.
Monica Guerrero:Yeah, the solar eclipse was fun. I think it was fun for all of us.
Heather Patrick:Yep, it was. Even the day,
Monica Guerrero:I still remember April 1 of our, it was April 1 or might have been the April.
Heather Patrick:Oh, was April 8. April 8. October 14 was the partial and April 8 was the full eclipse. See, I'll forever be in my mind.
Monica Guerrero:But I think even for us, the response that we got from so many different school districts wanting to educate their families and their parents about the importance of wearing safe protection or safe eye protection for the day of the event. It was something that was being talked about all over the world. And so for us to be a part of that was huge, not just once, but twice in a twelve month period. But I think the April 1 was even more incredible. I still remember all of us as a team getting together and trying to chase the because it was about to rain and we're trying to find the perfect spot.
Monica Guerrero:But even being in the parking lot at the park. Because that's where we were to watch the solar eclipse. But to know that there were so many people out there that were gonna see the eclipse without even wearing the proper safety glasses. And for us to even take that opportunity to start handing out our prevent blindness solar eclipse glasses and telling them, Hey, did you know that you could damage your eyes if you're not wearing the safe glasses, solar eclipse glasses? But it was a great, even though we were in the moment, we never stopped educating, And so we found an opportunity to educate every way that we could that day.
Monica Guerrero:But even the response from our district to be able to say that message or tell that message to the parents, especially because it was gonna happen at 03:00 when a lot of the schools in Texas were gonna get out.
Monica Guerrero:And to be able to pass on that message. But for me, it was more than just a message. It was helping to provide an experience for a lot of the students and the teachers. And I know, I told my daughter's teacher, make sure they're wearing their glasses and make sure you get pictures. But it was something that they're never gonna forget.
Monica Guerrero:And for us to be able to bring that to so many students across Texas was pretty incredible. And then we also have our educational presentations for adults. So diabetes and vision is one of the highly requested educational presentations that we get asked all the time to present on. Sometimes we do small presentations, sometimes just a few people. And I always say no presentation, whether it's small or big is, for me, doesn't matter.
Monica Guerrero:I think some of the best presentations that we've had have had five people because we're able to sit there and have a conversation about what we just talked about. But diabetes and vision, that's a big one. And then also our Healthy Eyes presentation, which really helps to bring in the messaging about it's more than just about getting your eye exam, but it really is the connection between vision and overall health and really helping to bring in the message, especially about aging eye disease. So especially with so many, you know, our aging population, it's like we're living longer. And so I know we're gonna have more issues on glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and AMD.
Monica Guerrero:And diabetes is also a really big one too, because we're noticing that there's such a huge increase in children with diabetes. And it's something that has to start, we have to start talking about diabetes and vision a lot sooner. We always think about diabetes as something that you get whenever you get older, but it just seems like the population is getting younger. And especially in Texas with our high Hispanic population, it's just something that's very prevalent minority populations. And there's just so much more opportunity to really give out that messaging.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. Yeah. All right. Good. Okay.
Heather Patrick:So now what we're going talk a little bit just about the broader industry and kind of what you have observed over the last decade or So when you think about eye health, what comes to your mind more from just the general public perspective? And then also kind of as you look at the industry, what do you think has shifted or changed?
Monica Guerrero:I always think about the children first because I see how they've been so affected by COVID and the lack of screenings in the school system. I'm always amazed at the number of kids that have never received a vision screening ever. And a lot of these kids are already in fourth grade, fifth And it just really goes to show the effects of lack of nurses, lack of health services staff, lack of vision screening training, just really lack of being able to really educate on how do you even do the screenings to make sure that kids are receiving the screenings. But children are always the first one. And I say that because the majority of children that we screen are unaware that they have a vision problem.
Monica Guerrero:Doing a children's vision screening takes us a couple of minutes. It's a simple wall chart that we put on the wall. But when you start seeing the children cover their right eye or their left eye, that's really when you start seeing the kids struggle, they can't see. And I think for me, it's always seeing the reaction on their face that they have realized they cannot see. We always start off by screening both eyes.
Monica Guerrero:So it's really just sort of like a practice like, okay, let's kind of make sure that you understand what you have to do. But once we start screening the right eye first and then the left eye and to see how it goes from being so easy to being so hard in a couple of seconds is always amazing And to so for me, I think it's just knowing that we are catching so many kids, but that we're not catching so many kids that still need help. Yep,
Heather Patrick:Or even for the ones that we have identified, they're still not moving forward in the process. So for an organization, one of our really big strategic priorities is finding solutions and working with our partners to design and implement better, more effective interventions around follow-up and care coordination, because the nurses are doing so much and they are incredible.
Heather Patrick:They're heroes out on those campuses. But it takes a lot of follow-up to move kids to the next step. So that is something for us that is critically important You're talking about a state like Texas, if you have 50%, which is about where it hovers of kids that are identified that aren't getting the services they need, you're talking about thousands of students that are struggling to see and we have to do better.
Heather Patrick:We have to figure this out. And so that's something that Prevent Blindness Texas, our program team, our public health committee, and our partners are really trying to figure out how do we solve this issue? What's a better intervention?
Heather Patrick:How do we help build capacity for the schools and the nurses so that we can help solve that issue?
Monica Guerrero:There's still a lot of work that has to be done.
Heather Patrick:There's definitely a lot of work that has to do.
Monica Guerrero:There's lot of districts in Texas.
Heather Patrick:There are over 1,100. But I mean, they're so committed and they have so many things happening And the nurses we work with are just they're incredible. They're just really, you know, devoted and dedicated to the children they serve. And so it's really important to us to help them too and help the families and help the kids be able to see because it does make a difference.
Heather Patrick:So kind of in the broader scope then talk about some of the things that have come out especially over the last six to nine months related to myopia and kind of why that's important to us as we think about our future as PBT. Talk about that kind of how that is connected.
Monica Guerrero:Yeah, so we know that there's increased rate of myopia in children now. And a lot of it really has to do with the increased time in screen time indoors and in our digital devices. I know for most schools are doing all their work on a laptop and it's no longer pen and paper or pencil and paper, but it's just the lack of not using your eyes the way you should naturally be using them. And I think it's something that we are also seeing as we're doing our vision screening. So when we actually started resuming vision screenings, the way we have been pre COVID, it was probably about a year and a half after COVID.
Monica Guerrero:And I'll never forget, we were doing photo screening and I actually thought my photo screener machine was broken because there were so many kids who were not passing. And I was like, wait a minute, hold on. So we redid, we rescreened the children and our results were pretty accurate. But it just so happens that there was, at the time we didn't know that so many more kids that spend so much time on their tablets, on their laptops in the last year and a half during COVID that we didn't realize how much it was affecting their vision. And then also, just lack of outdoor activities and just being outside.
Monica Guerrero:So yeah, we see it every day.
Heather Patrick:It's really interesting, right? Because when the report came out and the news and report, I don't know, six months now, maybe, you know, that was kind of a big takeaway around myopia was really this. I don't, where we used to be outside all the time. I mean, as a kid, I was outside after school all the time riding our bikes. Absolutely.
Heather Patrick:Till dark. Mean, was when you came home was dark. And now kids aren't doing that. Right. And so and again, there's this unintended consequence, these ripple effects that happen when you have these major shifts.
Heather Patrick:And that is becoming one of them that kids are spending so much time inside. They may be on video games, they may be watching TV, they may be on their phone, but it's more wrapped around that they're inside versus being outside and having the sunlight. And so it's interesting to just see how these major cultural shifts, right, impact all different things but you know, for us related to vision.
Heather Patrick:And so again, kind of what's the answer, right? Because myopia, I think the fear is that it's becoming an epidemic and there are definitely risk, higher risk for vision issues later on if you're myopic at an early age. And so, you know, for us, comes back to really helping parents, teachers, health administrators, children, kind of this bigger picture.
Monica Guerrero:Yeah, that's why for us it was, you know, we didn't even though we stopped screening, we never stopped educating, right? And for us it was even a bigger push for us to be able to educate to the schools, the parents, the families. These are the signs and symptoms of a possible vision problem. So your child should not be sitting an inch away from the TV. They should be sitting further back, bumping into walls, complaining about headaches, nausea.
Monica Guerrero:And so while we were not able to do screenings or physically be in buildings to do screenings, we still found a way to be able to get our messaging in. But it's hard to really push that message to a parent who never had to think about those things. But there's still a lot of work that has to be done.
Heather Patrick:I mean, I think about my own experience and I mean, I've shared before on the podcast that, you know, I was in first grade, I went through, you know, the mandated screening process and I could not see. But you don't know what you don't know as a child and if and your parents don't know what they don't know, right? And so, we obviously went to the eye doctor. I've been wearing glasses since I was in first grade and I think a lot of, I know my own parents felt bad but you don't again, you don't know what you don't know. And so that's one of the reasons it's so important for us is to help parents know these are the things you can be looking out for, right?
Heather Patrick:And here's how you take action. Because I do think that there are a lot of parents out there that as soon as they know something's wrong. But you know, to be as proactive, I mean, again, this is all about prevention, right? And helping people be empowered to take action to help their vision. Last year we served 52,000 people, we educated over 80,000 people, we trained over 900 people, and we go back to you we have a nine total staff, but five on the program team side, right?
Heather Patrick:So talk about how maybe your team strategizes, right, on how do you do that much work with five people?
Monica Guerrero:A lot of the trainings actually come from school districts that we're already working with, or maybe we have partnered with nursing student groups that are willing to help out school districts to make sure that their vision screenings are being completed in a timely manner. We're also fortunate to be a partner of the Texas Vision Screening Program, and they entrust us with also helping out with our certification piece and for being an external instructor for that part.
Monica Guerrero:But they've also realized that whenever somebody approaches them to do a training of 20, they're like, hey, I think prevent blindness is a better match for what you're trying to accomplish in your organization. Their job is just to certify them and move on. But I think whenever they start having conversation with them and they're like, hey, have you heard of Prevent Blindness?
Monica Guerrero:I think they can help provide you a better or more well rounded, I guess programs and services that you want to offer to your students. And then we also have long standing partnerships with some of our community centers, community clinics that we work with where we know every year we're going go in a either on a monthly basis, a quarterly basis, whatever the need is for that community. And then as we continue to expand, that's where we stop it. We're like, well, we're working here, but where should we be working? And I think that's the work that always never stops.
Monica Guerrero:Especially, I always say post COVID, it was a challenge for us because there was such a transition of staff, of partner staff. Sometimes we emailed somebody one day and the next day they were not there. So it was like the hard part was reestablishing that partnership and that trust again with the new people on board. And I feel like we're still working on it. I feel like we're finally getting to the place, five years later where it's like, okay, I feel like we're kind of where we're at pre COVID, but better.
Monica Guerrero:And I feel like it kind of gave us time to figure out, okay, let's sit down and let's really think about how is it that we wanna work better with our partners. And we're always open. I think like Heather mentioned, there's more than 1,100 school districts in Texas. So there's always work to be done. There's more partners that we could be helping.
Monica Guerrero:It's just finding the right time to work with a partner sometimes can also be challenging with a team of nine and just trying to figure out what's our priority today. And sometimes, and to be honest, I think there's so many more requests for partners, but at the end of the day, the clients are priority. Priority. And so whenever we get phone calls, whenever we get voicemails, whenever we get calls to help them out, sometimes we have to make a decision to, okay, I'm just gonna put that aside because the client comes first. So we're gonna stop and help the client today.
Monica Guerrero:Yeah. And we do that a lot. We actually do it a lot more than we think we do. This is sort of like second nature to us. Just kind of happens.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. So in that, I mean, we have competing priorities, we have amazing partners. The state is phenomenal to work with. So we have all these different avenues, right inputs for work for partnership. And then we always have our clients.
Heather Patrick:And so and we are client focused. That is part of our commitment to this organization as a staff, as a core value is to be client focused. So that balance is always present. So what are some the other challenges that the team faces? And maybe over the last year in particular, but what do you see kind of as we move forward?
Heather Patrick:What are those two or three that you think, okay, these are challenges and opportunities.
Monica Guerrero:I think the challenge for us is the size of our state. I always say that, we're a small team, but Texas is huge. So it's really prioritizing, where is it that we wanna be at every month? And what does that look like for us? Because for us, it's not just about providing the screening, but it really is about implementing all the pieces.
Monica Guerrero:All the pieces that we need to be able to help solve the problem as best as we can in that community. Know, if it was just about screening, we could do it anywhere. But for us, you know, the important part for us is getting the client in the door and really making sure that they follow-up. Yeah. So that's always a challenge.
Monica Guerrero:Like you mentioned earlier, you know, there's times where we get on a plane, we drive four hours, we take a two hour flight, it just, you know, wherever we're at for the moment. And then, you know, I think the other challenge too, is the more we screen, the more issues we find. And so it's also making the time to help navigate clients to where, you know, they need to be going next.
Monica Guerrero:So, you know, for some of our clients, it's not just about getting an eye exam and a pair of glasses, you know, once they get their eye exam, they call back and they say, Hey, they found out I have a cataract or I'm in beginning stages with glaucoma, what should I be doing? So it's really helping serve as a navigator for that client and really helping them move. And we can't do it all.
Monica Guerrero:So which is why it's so important for our partner contacts or wherever the lead partner contact to be able to say, these are the resources. So whenever your client asks you these questions, these are some of the opportunities that you can present to them. And then, for us too, it's also not just giving them the one time service, but also offering the option to be able to say, hey, have you heard or have you thought about applying for your county program or maybe for this health program?
Monica Guerrero:Because it looks like you might need something more beyond a pair of glasses. So we wanna make sure that you're well taken care of. But I would say the coordination, the care coordination part, it's it's just becoming to be a lot more visible.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, it definitely is, I think, bubbled to the top of one of the biggest needs in every community that we're a part of. And I think an opportunity for the organization to grow move in that space. If you could change one thing about the industry right now, what would it be?
Monica Guerrero:Probably accessibility. And only because I know we work with a lot of areas where their nearest eye care provider is forty five minutes away. So I think it's being able to provide more resources that are closer to them, especially we have a lot of clients who are seniors. They maybe don't have access to transportation. They don't have a family member who can drive them.
Monica Guerrero:Maybe they don't know how to get to the place they have to, or it just could be fear. You know, a lot of our clients live in small towns, small communities where, you know, they're not having to drive in on the Houston Freeways or Dallas Freeways and having to really leave their comfort zone, but it would be more accessibility, I think. I think that's the biggest thing.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, I think across the industry, right? That's one of the things, there's definitely a shortage of doctors, especially estimated over the next decade. And so I think that has become a significant barrier and something as an organization in partnership with other organizations and a larger national movement of how do we fill that pipeline so that we don't have a client who has to drive an hour, an hour and a half because that's the only doctor that's in the area. And so how do we help close that gap?
Heather Patrick:Or, you know, how do we continue to use telehealth effectively so that some of those clients don't have to go, they don't have to drive that there is that telehealth connection. But that requires, again, strategy and a platform and providers and coordinating all of it. But I definitely think there are opportunities to continue to use technology effectively for some of those clients and populations that are in our rural counties.
Heather Patrick:Even in our huge markets, right, there's just, it's amazing, you know, the stories we hear of just how hard it is sometimes to get where they need to go. And that's across the board, right? It doesn't, I mean, I think for all of us, right, being able to make the time to go do what we need to do, you know, having to go to repeat doctor's appointments, it's just a lot.
Heather Patrick:And so I think we also kind of serve as that shoulder that, you know, team that, and we, we have really entered in the space of caregiving conversations, right? Because, as if you have a family member or child or that has vision issues, vision loss rate, there's a lot on the caregiver. And so we've walked into that space too, so that we can help, be that support mechanism.
Monica Guerrero:I think also to affordability, just being able to afford the access, the actual receiving part of the eye care.
Heather Patrick:Glasses are expensive.
Monica Guerrero:Glasses are really expensive and the higher your prescription.
Heather Patrick:Oh yeah, I know.
Monica Guerrero:I think too many people go without exams, without glasses, without treatment. And to think that a simple pair of glasses could be such a ripple effect for like positive impact is a huge thing. You just have people who can see, who can fill out a job application, who can drive, who's probably safer for all of us out there in the roads.
Monica Guerrero:I think, you know, it's just that, you know, having that positive feeling of just, I can see, I can do this today. I can make it through tomorrow. Just for me, just it's that ripple effect of everything just being better.
Heather Patrick:I agree. So where do you see our industry in five years? When do you think changes?
Monica Guerrero:I think more in the accessibility because of, I know everybody talks about AI. Being able to have that virtual component for a lot of clients who may not be able to get to like your provider, so close that maybe we can. So I'm hoping the virtual component will really, you know, really help a lot of people have access to the exams that they currently don't have. And then the technology, I think for me, it's also just because we do prevention, that's our thing, prevention screenings.
Monica Guerrero:But I always think about a tool on the phone that can really help to find, or maybe help to detect something that could be wrong a lot sooner. So just being able to find the problem a lot sooner can really help to solve the problem a lot sooner or help the problem a lot sooner. So I'm pretty curious to see in five years what technology is gonna do for us, especially side.
Heather Patrick:I don't think you'll just be screening for vision. I think in five years, it may be looking at your eyes, but they're going to be able to screen for so many other things and risk for so many other things. I think that will be both interesting in the sense that they'll be able to identify it. But I think to your point earlier, right, and it's one of the challenges that we face as an organization. You educate more people, you screen more people, more people are aware of an issue then.
Heather Patrick:Right. And then you have the flip side of it, the capacity to solve that issue. Right. And it's this balance of we want people to be able to understand what the signs and symptoms are and go get help. But if we have a capacity issue, that becomes a challenge.
Heather Patrick:So it'll be interesting to see kind of in the next five to ten years as technology advances, as we may be able to be more effective in identifying issues earlier, will we have the capacity and resources to treat it? And what will the ethics be wrapped around it? So I think it will be interesting to see how it all evolves.
Heather Patrick:All right, so as we kind of think about and wrap up, I want to talk about what you think our impact has been both across the state and then in some very individual ways. What do you think we've done? What difference do you really think we've made?
Monica Guerrero:I think the impact for me is always very visible every day that we get success stories. A lot of people don't know that we get success stories, handwritten success stories, which is something that people don't do very much anymore. Feel like everybody types or text messages, But the fact that people take the time to write their story of simply saying thank you and how it has made an impact in their personal life is a huge deal.
Monica Guerrero:On average, get anywhere from like five to seven stories a day, sometimes more, sometimes they're from parents, sometimes they're from the moms who applied because their children heard about prevent blindness. But I think that's, for me, that's always the visible impact of what we've made.
Monica Guerrero:And I know there's a lot more out there. I feel like a lot of people are still afraid to share their story after they've received services, which is okay. I mean, I totally respect that. But for those that are able to provide their perspective on how we were able to help them, it's a big deal. Especially when they sit there and they write out how easy the process was.
Monica Guerrero:For me, that's huge. All the way from calling, asking for an application, applying for the services, being able to get the services and being able to be treated with respect where they went to get the services is even bigger for me. But that's for me, that's the visible impact.
Heather Patrick:I think about our partner, our friend at Northeast ISD. Oh, And our conversation with her a couple weeks ago and how she shared with us that she went to the eye doctor, hadn't been and went to the eye doctor and asked different questions because with us. I thought that's why we do what we do, right? That she felt empowered. She knew what to ask, what action to take, and she felt confident in doing it and did it.
Heather Patrick:And because of our work with her in the district and I thought that was really cool.
Monica Guerrero:Especially because she had coordinated our presentations for her parents and her family and the education spread to her. That was the first time she had ever mentioned anything. And then also the nurse that we work with from Venus ISD, how she started off as a nursing student volunteer as a children's vision screener, and then remembered us, right? So she remembered actually helping with the Fort Worth screenings. And then when she became a lead nurse in her district in Texas, she said, I remember prevent blindness and the impact that we were making on the children receiving a vision screening, and I wanna work with y'all.
Monica Guerrero:And that was pretty big. So just knowing that it was like full circle and that we made such a positive, I guess, long lasting impact on how we can partner was also really touching.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. All right. So why should people get involved with us?
Monica Guerrero:I think, you know, obviously our mission's different. It's different from some of the organizations that we always hear about food pantries, helping out with utilities. But I think for us, it's something that people don't really think about until it's too late or until it's really affecting them. But the thing is, we all have to see every day who, that's part of what we do is getting up and that's the first thing that you 're like, okay, what am I looking at right now? But I think our mission, our mission is so, it's so different.
Monica Guerrero:And I think it's just something that people don't think about how easy it can be to help prevent any type of vision problems and really help to make the impact on their community, whether it's on themselves or somebody else. But I feel like we get used to seeing people wear glasses every day that we don't really stop to think, okay, what happened before they had glasses? How were they able to see, were they not able to see? But I think our mission, the fact that we are a small team and we rely heavily on our volunteers and our interns and our partners and our funders to really help us to promote our mission. I think, by them helping us, they help us to make a bigger impact.
Monica Guerrero:And then, I think just, we're a great team. Mean, who wouldn't want to volunteer? Who wouldn't want to volunteer with us?
Heather Patrick:That's great. I always think about it's a solvable problem still, right? I mean, we can change the path of, vision with, more targeted interventions with, an amplified message, but there really is still opportunity to have a major shift, in this pathway. And I think for me, when I think about the organizations that I want to be a part of, or that I am a part of, and it's because there, there really is the work you're doing, the time you're giving, the funding you're giving is truly making a difference and can change the pathway for vision health. I think that is huge.
Heather Patrick:And so, you know, when people say, why should I get involved? Because you actually are making a huge difference, you know, individually, but also as an industry because we know we're kind of on this edge, right? We can see it, we can see what's going to happen if we don't kind of shift gears. And so we still have time to be able to change what we're doing and solve this issue.
Monica Guerrero:Well, we have volunteers come with us for the first time to children's vision screenings, especially some of our busier ones. And we're there from eight to twelve or eight to one whatever timeframe they have us there. But one of the biggest reactions we always get is I never, I did not understand that I would finish the screening event today helping about 300 kids. Yeah. You know, I think, you know, they come in thinking we're gonna help one kid, we're gonna help two kids.
Monica Guerrero:But the fact that they were so busy and the time went so fast and they were able to make such a huge impact on literally hundreds of kids, it's a huge deal. And so, but I think that's what makes them wanna come back is that they know that any volunteer event they're gonna come to, they're actually going to make an impact. Yeah.
Heather Patrick:So with that, we are always looking for volunteers. There are so many different ways to support us, to get involved. You can be a vision screener. We are looking for board members. There are board committees. We have events.
Heather Patrick:You can be on an event committee. You can help spread the message. You can be an ambassador. And of course you can be a donor. We always need donors too. But we are always looking for people to be a part of the PBT family.
Heather Patrick:So don't hesitate to reach out and contact us because we'd love to have you be a part of the family. With that, I just want to say thanks for being with us today. We love being able to do this and share our experiences and our knowledge and our voices to move vision forward. So with that, we're gonna sign off and like we always do, make sure you subscribe.
Heather Patrick:And then of course we want to leave it with what's your vision?
