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The Indiana University School of Optometry Rural Health Clinic Program is designed to provide comprehensive eye care to underserved, uninsured, low-income residents of Clay, Clark, Crawford, and Washington counties and their surrounding areas. Services are provided at the following clinics:
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The program was started in 2001 when the school received a Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant from the Indiana State Department of Health. This grant allowed the school to purchase the equipment necessary to outfit each of the four clinics.
With the assistance of the Indiana Optometric Association, the IU School of Optometry provides faculty optometrists, most who volunteer their services, and optometry student interns. These optometrists and student interns are responsible for delivering the highest quality eye care for their patients.
The ultimate goal of the Rural Health Clinic Program is an increase in healthy lifestyles for the people of Indiana, particularly with respect to availability of and accessibility to eye care services.
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Indiana as a state suffers from high rates of morbidity and mortality. The draft of the Healthy People 2010 Objectives states that years of healthy life declined slightly between 1990 and 1994, causing the nation to move away from its target of increasing healthy lifestyles for its citizens.
The health of the eye is a barometer of the health of the body. Diabetic eye disease, for example, often serves as the first clinically observed sign of systemic illness in uncontrolled and previously undiagnosed diabetics. Eighty percent of blindness from conditions like diabetic eye disease is avoidable through early treatment and prevention. Rural populations are particularly vulnerable with higher prevalence of chronic conditions and insufficient access to health care services. |
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