Founded in 1998, Hope Alliance began by providing all kinds of care, including dental and vision exams as well as work to provide clean water.
Executive Director Diane Bernhardt said around 2014, the nonprofit began focusing solely on vision care — providing eye exams and glasses to people in need.
“We have two permanent clinics in Utah. We have one here embedded within the People's Health Clinic, and we have another one embedded within the Moab Free Health Clinic,” Bernhardt said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” July 2. “We are also expanding our services through outreach clinics and pop-up clinics.”
Bernhardt said the alliance typically provides eye care at Park City’s People’s Health Clinic on the third Friday of each month. However, when the wait-list gets too long, it provides more options.
The nonprofit also provides vision clinics for the Park City and Grand County school districts each fall. The work supports state-mandated exams for kids in Kindergarten, first, third, fifth and seventh grade.
During the process, school nurses identify children who need glasses. Hope Alliance then provides eye screenings and glasses for families who can’t afford them.
“In Utah this year, we served 296 students,” Bernhardt said. “81 of them had never had an eye exam, some of them really severe.”
Bernhardt said the organization is also expanding to schools in more rural parts of the state, including Book Cliff Elementary School in Green River. She said Hope Alliance is also starting to work with North and South Summit school districts in Summit County.
The nonprofit currently has programs in Mexico, Guatemala, and Uganda, and previously served countries in South America, Asia and Europe.
Bernhardt said there are barriers to vision care globally, and the alliance is working on solutions, like virtual appointments.
“What we're trying to do is come up with more efficient ways, using technology, to make the process faster so we could see more patients,” she said. “Also make it so it's less error-prone, and see if we could connect doctors to patients while they're not together.”
The nonprofit is working to open a vision clinic at the Bowendi Community Hospital in Uganda, but the latest Ebola outbreak has slowed the process.
