When the Government Doesn’t Respond for Kids…. We Do

A shock to economists and a blow to families—last week the number of unemployment claims surprisingly surged.  With nearly a million more Americans tapping their unemployment accounts, it seems less and less likely that the 7.7 million Americans who’ve lost their jobs since the virus struck the U.S. will be able to rely on income from a job anytime soon. 

Not only have 70% of these workers lost their health insurance as a result, so have millions of their children, tragically decreasing access to health care when already more than four million children are uninsured and the numbers have been rising steadily for the last four years. 

This health care calamity caused by COVID, coupled with the Trump Administration’s efforts to derail the ACA, is making our children sick. The abhorrent failure of the federal government to prioritize healthcare fueled our determination to pull off our 11th annual (and 1st virtual) Give Kids Sight Day last Saturday. With amazing partners, this was easily among the largest single day of volunteer service in the City since COVID struck. Of the 475 children with Sight Day appointments, we identified 241 children with possible vision problems and 15 others who need new glasses. 

Thanks to the ingenuity and technical support of Wills Eye Hospital, PCCY was able to take the eye screenings virtual. With a bit of string and a simple eye chart mailed to the home of each child, more than 100 volunteers from Wills, Salus and Penn School of Nursing and friends of PCCY partnered with parents via cellphones and computers to check their child’s sight.  There was plenty of laughter and tons of wonderment as families experienced the marriage of low tech and high tech all focused on ensuring their children could see.  

Tomorrow, doctors at Wills Eye Hospital will provide free eye exams and, if needed, two pairs of glasses to the maximum, safe capacity of kids that can be seen in one day. Wills Eye Hospital has generously agreed to provide the same, great, free care for the remaining children through individual appointments families will make in the near future.

It took more than ingenuity to surmount the virtual health care challenges when it came to identifying children who might need eye care. In the days before COVID, PCCY would comb the halls of schools and partners would work the streets to find the children who were underinsured or uninsured and needed our Sight Day help.  But true to form, school nurses pulled out all the stops to find these children via Zoom meetings with parents and so too did our partners who work tirelessly to help immigrant families including Juntos and HIAS. 

With these nurses and partners, we are fighting hard to extend health insurance coverage to every child in Pennsylvania including those living here without legal status.  And, until then, we have to we step in where the government fails and make sure all children are healthy and, in  this case, so they can see.   Who could imagine that in the richest nation in the world, in the year 2020, we would have to work so hard to make sure our children have perfect vision?    

P.S. The Philadelphia philanthropic community has stepped to the plate over and over again during this crisis.  This amazing day of service and care for children was made possible with the generosity of the Eagles Charitable Foundation, Essilor Vision Foundation, Jefferson Health, Hess Foundation, Philadelphia Health Partnership, The School District of Philadelphia, Spark Therapeutics, Vision to Learn, and The Wawa Foundation.