The Eye Care Community Outreach (ECCO) program is a unique program created by Indiana University's School of Optometry and School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology with collaborative efforts from many other community organizations to address the growing need for vision health care services for medically underserved individuals. In April 2004, a $150,000 seed grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust was awarded to share between the IU School of Optometry and IU Department of Ophthalmology to establish the ECCO program.

ECCO seeks to improve access to vision health care services for uninsured and low-income individuals through outreach, resource coordination, community collaboration, donated professional eye care, and patient advocacy and education.

• Diabetes is the #1 cause of: blindness, amputation, and kidney failure.
• Diabetes also increases the risk of other eye diseases such as cataract and glaucoma.
• 3.4 million Americans age 40 and over are legally blind or suffer the effects of visual impairment. This figure is expected to increase to 5.5 million by 2020 (American Academy of Ophthalmology, 2004).
• Nearly 80% of eye-disease-related blindness and vision impairment is avoidable through early treatment and prevention (American Academy of Ophthalmology, 2004).
• Over 300,000 Indiana residents are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality from diabetes and its complications, and over 112,000 in Indiana have diabetic retinopathy (Prevent Blindness America).
• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 10.3 million Americans have diagnosed diabetes, while an additional 5.4 million have diabetes that has not been diagnosed.
• Glaucoma is more common in Blacks, Hispanics, and with increasing age.
• Eye diseases can be detected by an annual eye exam.