Vision Resources Of Central Pennsylvania

Social servicestransportation/escort, in-home services and group education & support are provided to blind and visually impaired persons in central pennsylvania; clients received 1074 hours of support services. We provided 300 non-clients who are blind or have low vision with case management services including referrals to services as well as resources. Fifteen individuals were accepted as new clients in fy24-25. Various activities are provided through monthly support group meetings held at vrocp's home office in harrisburg, as well as in chambersburg. Orientation & mobility (o&m) has continued to be provided on an as-needed basis.

Low vision rehab centerthe vision rehab center provides full on-site low vision care ranging from low vision exams and evaluations to rehabilitation and adaptive training and equipment. The staff low vision optometrist provided 123 low vision evaluations in fy24-25. All low vision clients can access the necessities store for convenience items as well as other vrocp services. An on-staff low vision specialty licensed occupational therapist provided specialized training and magnification equipment to 222 clients during this fiscal year. 396 sessions were provided at an average of 60 minutes per session.

Prevention of blindnessfree vision screenings for pre-school children aged 2-6 are conducted in dauphin, cumberland, perry, and franklin counties. There were 2,669 screenings performed in fy24-25 at 91 sites, with 206 referrals for follow-up. Eye health & safety education programs are also offered to the same age group of children in the four counties served on a much smaller scale. A highlight of the department is an annual week-long summer camp, held in july, for 6-8 children who are legally blind/visually impaired.

Audio servicesvrocp operates an audio stream providing news, information and entertainment, seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day. The stream may be accessed with any wi-fi capable device. Newspapers, magazines, books, grocery, and pharmacy ads are read and recorded daily by vrocp volunteers. In fy 2024-2025 audio volunteers donated 2,569 hours of their time to the service. Other program offers include penn live news read live each weekday morning from nine until ten a.m., the spark, an original program from witf public media, and insight interviews, an original program offer of vrocp. Daily obituaries are recorded by volunteers in their entirety and are heard by hundreds of listeners on a dedicated audio services telephone line. World folk music, a feature of the smithsonian institute folkways label, can also be enjoyed.

Eye clinicprovides no-cost comprehensive eye exams and basic needs eyeglasses to individuals of all ages who are uninsured or underinsured and meet the qualifications of the eligibility screening. The clinic operates with funding assistance from community partners, pa vision foundation and united way of the capital region contact to care programs. In fy24-25, the clinic was open 11 days and provided 51 free exams and 15 free pairs of eyeglasses. In addition, 137 qualified clients were referred to participating providers in their community for these same services under our program. Language translation services were provided to 30% of these clients.

Access technologythe at department offers high-quality training in the use of computers, mobile devices, and assistive technology equipment for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Training is individualized to each person and includes applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, dowloading applications, and using the internet. 28 clients were served individually. 30,807 pages of braille/large print production were produced for various state and private customers.