A glasses-wearing kitty?: What contributes to Truffles' success

A typical day for Truffles the Kitty and her sidekick Gumdrop revolves around making sure pediatric patients get the best education on eye care and feel comfortable while getting outfitted with their new glasses. Danielle Crull, ABOM, of A Child's Eyes in Pennsylvania, details the latest initiatives Truffles has taken on to spread the word about amblyopia and other eye conditions and procedures affecting pediatric patients.

Video transcript:

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jordana Joy:

For sure. So Truffles also has her own organization. Can you tell me a bit about that organization's mission and the campaigns that it's taken on?

Danielle Crull, ABOM:

Oh, thank you so much for asking. Yeah. So, gee, what are you going to do when your cat gets famous? It just really seemed like the natural thing to do to start the Truffles the Kitty Organization. Truffles was definitely up for it. And with this organization, we have 3 campaigns. One is a campaign of encouragement, where Truffles sends treats out to all of her little fur-iends, whether they need encouragement because they're wearing glasses or encouragement because they are patching or having eye surgery, even kids who've been bullied. There's all different reasons why Truffles might send a package out to them. So there's encouragement, there's a campaign for knowledge, and we are really, really kicking that one up with a lot of different programs to help people understand what different early childhood vision disorders are out there, what types of treatments are being done and helping people really just understand why a child is wearing glasses and that vision develops in those early years and how important it is. And third is a campaign of assistance where we help families purchase glasses for a first time purchase of glasses.

Joy:

Absolutely, yeah, that's very important. So what does an average day in the office look like for you, Truffles, and Gumdrop?

Truffles with one of her many pediatric patients. Image courtesy of A Child's Eyes.

Crull:

So usually, a lot of rambunctious little kiddos coming in and lots of play time. Truffles, she comes out like the professional, for sure. She comes out with her glasses on and says hi to kids, and she'll do high fives and fist bumps and all of that. And, of course, there's a lot of Truffles pictures around, and sometimes kids come in, they don't even know that Truffles is real at first, and then she comes out and they're like, "Wow." And they love it. So then Gumdrop comes out as the little prankster. He comes out, like, pushes Truffles out of the way and knocks things over. He's just like the little comic relief. And then kids are so excited to see that he'll wear glasses too. So, you know, they are a huge part of what we do here. They're not the only part, by any means, but they are definitely a huge part. And it is definitely part of the experience to come in and see cats wearing glasses and just seeing that everything is okay,

Joy:

Absolutely. Yeah. So what would you attribute to Truffles' success. What is it about a cat wearing glasses that gets kids so involved in eye care?

Truffles also sports eye patches to help destigmatize eye conditions and procedures. Image courtesy of A Child's Eyes.

Crull:

Sure, I always feel like it just has to be the fact that they know that she has no hidden agenda. You know, we do a lot of things to try to get kids to do things because we have an agenda, whether it is we want to look in their eyes or whatever it is that we're doing. You try to orchestrate things to get their cooperation. And I think when Truffles comes out and she's like, "Look, I can wear glasses. You can wear glasses too," or "I'm wearing an eye patch. You can wear an eye patch too," they don't ever think like, "Why is she doing that?" If she's doing it, it must be okay. And I feel like that's really the connection that kids have. And then they're like, "Well, if Truffles wears glasses and I wear glasses, she's just like me." And that is just like another connector that they have. So the more that they see her, the more they feel like we're the same, we're friends, we're pals.

Joy:

Absolutely. There’s camaraderie there, I can imagine. So what is now possible at your office that wasn't possible before Truffles?

Crull:

Well, I think just being able to get this message all around the world. I love every patient that comes in my office, every kiddo that I get to help. I feel so blessed, so fortunate to be able to help them. But Truffles has just opened up that whole world to be able to talk to people literally all around the world, about children, about vision, about patching, about all the different types of treatments, you know, even CVI, why kids might use a white cane. There's so many things out there that, as a society, we can know and learn about and also support the kids around us. Because that is the other thing, is we like to empower kids to do what they need to do, to build and strengthen their vision. Because, as you mentioned, compliance is the big part of it, and when kids are complying and they're succeeding, and we're coming around them and supporting them, and Truffles is spearheading that message, I think that really that's what has happened here. I have a little office, and I can only see so many kids, but Truffles can reach literally around the world.

Joy:

For sure. That's great to hear. Was there anything else that you wanted to add that we haven't touched on yet?

Truffles endorsing her Pumpkin Patch Project. Image courtesy of A Child's Eyes.

Crull:

Oh, I would love to mention about the Pumpkin Patch Project, if that's possible. So Pumpkin Patch project is our community initiative that we do again, mostly in the United States, but we do have people in other countries who participate with it too. But Trick-or-Treat and Halloween isn't as popular in other countries, but the idea is that you put an eye patch on your pumpkin to help spread awareness for amblyopia. If you put that pumpkin on your porch for Trick-or-Treat, it helps signify your home as low vision friendly. We have a lot of resources on there, anything from how to make an eye patch to put on your pumpkin, what amblyopia is, why patching sometimes is a treatment, what other types of treatments are out there, how kids function with low vision, how to make your porch friendly for low vision. It's super cute and adorable, because putting a patch on a pumpkin, it's pumpkin patch. Everybody loves the initiative. Everybody loves how cute it is and we're able to take that then as a message to help people understand. Because, as you know, about 3% of kids are diagnosed with amblyopia, and if it's not caught early enough, it can really cause a lot of problems. And this helps take the stigma away from wearing an eye patch as a young child.

Joy:

For sure, absolutely. Well, thank you very much for taking the time today. Do we think that we could get a farewell high five from Miss Truffles?

Crull:

Oh, I'm pretty sure here. Truffles, can we give high five? There we go.

Joy:

Well, thank you again for taking the time today. We appreciate it.

Crull:

Oh, thank you so much. We really appreciate it too.