“Oh my gosh! I’m going to get straight A’s!”
That was 11-year-old Aisha Ismail’s first reaction during her training session with the OrCam MyEye 3 Pro, a device that reads text and handwriting aloud and recognizes faces among other features – all things Aisha cannot do because she is blind.
Aisha has Type 1 Neurofibromatosis (NFI), a rare genetic disorder that led to optic atrophy and permanent vision loss at a very young age. Her journey to greater independence began last April when she and her mother walked into the MedRVA Low Vision Center. “When we met Aisha, she was very motivated and had a very specific goal,” says Angelene Rapone O.D., Aisha’s optometrist at the Low Vision Center. “She hoped to have a pair of glasses that could read aloud to her. Her goal became our goal.”
MedRVA Healthcare’s not-for-profit status, coupled with financial support from the MedRVA Foundation, enabled the Low Vision Center to provide Aisha with equipment that her family would not have been able to afford on their own.
For more than 70 years, MedRVA has served Central Virginia, reinforcing its commitment to Richmond’s underserved communities each year. Formerly known as the Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital, which opened in 1952, MedRVA has held fast to the original mission of providing comprehensive vision care services to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay. The MedRVA Low Vision Center is Central Virginia’s only not-for-profit vision center, which provides high-quality vision care to children and visually impaired adults through evaluations, therapy, and rehabilitation.
The Center aims to restore patients’ independence by offering tools and therapies that help make daily living and activities more accessible and enjoyable. Aisha, for example, can now do her homework more efficiently and independently, thanks to the solutions provided to her by MedRVA.
“For her entire life, Aisha has struggled with reading and seeing the world around her,” says Jamie Pucci, O.D., director of the MedRVA Low Vision Center. “We are overjoyed for her and her family as she enjoys greater independence.”
How to Support MedRVA Low Vision Center
There are many ways to support the Low Vision Center, the Pre-K Vision Program, and MedRVA’s support groups and workshops. If you’d like to make a donation or know of a school or community organization that would like to hold a free Pre-K Vision screening, please contact the MEDRVA Foundation at 804-775-4500 or medrva.com/for-community/foundation.
MedRVA Foundations Pre-K Vision Program
“It’s not uncommon for vision problems to go unnoticed in young children,” says Pucci. “Children don’t necessarily recognize or verbalize what seems normal to them. For example, if all they know is blurred vision, they believe it to be normal.”
Early detection is the very reason the MedRVA Foundation’s Pre-K Vision Program is in place. The program provides free year-round vision screenings for children across Central Virginia. Screenings are held at area schools, community centers, churches, and community events. Results are immediate; if vision problems are detected, MedRVA guides
parents on next steps and provides referrals to care specialists.
During the 2024-25 school year, the Foundation’s Pre-K Vision Program will visit more than 100 schools and screening sites throughout our community, estimating the number of eye exams and evaluations for children to be around 1,500.
Pucci urges parents to schedule regular eye exams for children of all ages, particularly those soon entering kindergarten. Pre-kindergarten children are at the optimal age to recognize vision problems that can be corrected or managed.
