Virginia Lions Eye Institute Foundation

Program 5: The Foundation has partnered with Prevention of Blindness of Metropolitan Washington for the improvement of low vision services and to provide easier public access to such services. The partnership provided 5,919 patients designated low income and homeless community members with vision care.

Lions Eye Clinic and Inova hospital administer eyecare to needy individuals that would not be covered otherwise. We provided a grant for the clinic to acquire an Optical Coherence Tomography, which is the most advanced diagnostic equipment in ophthalmology, used to detect the top three diseases that can cause blindness, namely diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. This advanced equipment will not need dye injection which eliminates potential lifesaving risk reaction of patients from the dye.

The Dr. Richard A. Falls Virginia Lions Eye Institute Foundation Grant seeks to support research, which will contribute to the wider field of knowledge on eye disease with the goal of improving vision and eye health. Grant funding is for one year. Research application due October 25. Grant may range from $500 to $40,000. Medical students, residents, and fellows may apply. An attending physician must be co-investigator on the application. At the end of the one-year cycle, investigators are asked to submit a summary, detailing the progress of the research study, and in what way the grant funding contributed to the completion of the project. It is the expectation that the proposed research will be conducted according to the ethical standards and IRB obligations of the primary investigators affiliated institution. Two research grants were issued in year-ended June 30, 2024.

Program 6: Assist the clubs on an as needed basis in their quest to help the vision impaired. In 2023 these contributions included Lions club donation and eye glasses from Moss Free Clinic.