RICHMOND, Va. — A trip to the eye doctor can be difficult for families to fit into busy schedules — especially when transportation, work and cost get in the way. But for Richmond Public Schools students, the optometrist is coming to them.
The Conexus Mobile Vision Clinic was at Fairfield Court Elementary Monday, providing eye exams and glasses fittings to students. The mission is personal for Conexus President Robin Mead. Mead said she got her first pair of glasses in the third grade and knows firsthand how much better the world can look with clear vision. She said, about 80% of what children learn in school comes through their vision, making good eyesight critical to their success in the classroom.
“It is really a remarkable thing, a fun thing to see a child get their glasses for the first time. Their world just changes immediately,” Mead said.
Conexus has partnered with Richmond Public Schools since the 2019-2020 school year. Since then, the mobile clinic has provided more than 12,700 eye exams and more than 10,300 pairs of glasses to RPS students. At Fairfield Court Elementary alone, Conexus has conducted 196 exams and provided 158 pairs of glasses. Monday marked a major milestone for the organization. Before this school year's mobile clinic exams began, Conexus was just shy of 40,000 exams statewide. The organization expects to provide its 40,000th exam at Fairfield Court Elementary. RPS Student Health Services Director Candiece Bourne said bringing the clinic directly into schools helps remove a major barrier for families.
“We do our best to meet our students where they are and provide them with numerous amounts of resources,” Bourne said.
Bourne said families may struggle to take time off work, find transportation, or get their children to appointments. The mobile clinic eliminates much of that burden — while also allowing students to choose their own frames.
“It is rewarding to see the students when they get those glasses and the smiles on their faces, how their faces just light up,” Bourne said. The students then receive their prescription glasses about two weeks after the clinic.
Conexus is a Chesterfield-based nonprofit that has been providing free eye care to students since the 2018-2019 school year. Last school year, its mobile clinic provided nearly 11,000 eye exams across 19 school divisions and prescribed nearly 9,000 pairs of glasses. The organization also conducted vision screenings for more than 112,000 students across 58 Virginia school divisions. This year, Conexus expanded its mobile clinic to several additional school divisions across the Commonwealth.
But Mead said the biggest challenge to expanding the program is not necessarily funding — it's finding doctors.
The mobile clinics are staffed by an optometrist and at least one licensed optician. Some doctors work just a few days a year, while others work several days a week. Mead said that means adding more clinics can come down to finding just one more doctor willing to volunteer their time.
“Our biggest need truly is doctors. We’re limited pretty much by the amount of doctor days that we have,” Mead said.
The organization plans to hold mobile clinics somewhere in Virginia nearly every day through the spring. Conexus hopes to eventually provide eye exams to about 20,000 students a year. For the students who receive their first pair of glasses, the impact can be immediate.
“You see their eyes light up to see the world crisp and clean and clear for the first time ever. It truly makes a difference,” Mead said.
It makes no difference whether a child has insurance or not. About 50 percent of funding comes from the community including private and corporate donations.
“We work primarily with Title One schools, so if they don't have Medicaid coverage, then we assume that they're under or uninsured, and we raise funds in the community,” she said.
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