Eye care organizations, practices provide vision care amid the Greater Los Angeles wildfires

Kent J. Nozacki, OD, had an unconventional but heartwarming interaction with one of the patients he was treating in part of wildfire relief in the Los Angeles area. "[The patient] was 30 years old. He came in and he was wearing these little, tiny glasses, like for a child," Nozacki said. "I thought, 'Wow, what's he doing here?' And I found out that he had to be evacuated again, after just finding out, in 10 minutes and he could only run in [his house]. He was wearing contact lenses at the time, so he didn't think of getting his glasses, and he just represents 1 person of many who just didn't have time to get their glasses. So the only glasses he could find after he ran out of his contact lenses were the glasses that he had at his parents' house that he used to wear when he was in middle school. And so he was so thankful, and all the patients that we saw, the many patients that we saw, they were just so thankful that we're there to provide care. But you know what? It's just 1 small thing that we can all do. We all have a gift that we can share with others, and that's just the one small way that I found that I could help out."

Nozacki is 1 of countless California ODs that provided vision care and aid while wildfires raged in the Los Angeles area from January 7-31. Eye care organizations, including VSP Vision and CooperVision, and local private practices alike conducted eye examinations and provided free glasses to those in need.

CooperVision's Patient Emergency Relief program was able to assist both eye care providers and patients in the Los Angeles area by providing contact lenses for providers to distribute to patients. Arti Shah, OD, FAAO, senior manager of Professional and Academic Affairs at CooperVision, shared her insights with her work through the program and her own experiences owning a practice in the area.

"So CooperVision implemented the patient emergency relief program well over 5 years ago, and it's used for any disaster relief," Shah said. "So my role within the program is simply to offer this program to the patients I'm involved in patient care. So it is something that I offer all of my patients. Being with CooperVision, I support ECPs – eye care practitioners – as well as our schools and colleges of optometry within the United States. So we did let all of those schools of optometry also aware of this program, which has been utilized pretty extensively, so that patients can benefit during this really devastating time.

"Unfortunately, when patients, including our practice owner, community members, were asked to evacuate, really top of mind was just the most important valuables," Shah continued. "But we do know that vision is 1 of our most important senses, and they do need to see. And so contact lenses is something that CooperVision does provide our patients through this Patient Emergency Relief program. The benefit of the program is that our patients, who do participate in the Patient Emergency Relief program, are given 2 complimentary boxes of contact lenses which will allow them appropriate vision to take care of some of the most important essential day to day living tasks that they need to accomplish during this really trying time.

"I can add that CooperVision's Patient Emergency Relief program has been in effect for over 5 years, and right now, with the fires, it has already helped support over 120 patients, and as we see and hear from more and more patients, we do expect that number to go up. It's all about awareness. So if there's anything more that we can do to create awareness about the support from CooperVision as well as many of our other wonderful industry partners. I think this can really help all of the communities in southern California that have been affected, which it goes beyond Pacific Palisades, though, that is probably the most devastating I can think of in Southern California's history. But at the same time, we suffered close to 7 excruciating, devastating fires here in Southern California. So there are hundreds of patients who are more likely not aware of this program or similar programs out there. So I thank you, Optometry Times, for everything that you're doing to create awareness around what we can do as a community for all of these patients and for mankind."

VSP Vision Eyes of Hope, The Power of Sight Foundation, and the Los Angeles County Optometry Society also provided free eye exams to over 230 patients in 2 days in early February. A majority of those patients received replacement or new prescription glasses. VSP is also offering eye care and/or replacement eye wear for impacted VSP Vision Care Members.

"Earlier this month, I volunteered to be at a clinic which was sponsored by VSP, their vision plan, and what I did there was I did eye exams," Nozacki said. "I was accompanied by 18 other optometrists, and we provided free care to people who are affected by the Palisades fires, mainly as well as first responders and anyone who is in need so mainly because it was people who had lost everything in their life. And if you can imagine it this way, if you were watching these fires on TV, and then, let's say you are told, 'Hey, you have 10 minutes to get everything that's important to you, and you've got to get out of here.' So these people, they left behind things like their spare glasses or their computer glasses. And so most of the patients coming in that I saw were people who just didn't have access to their glasses. There were also people who were screened for things like diabetes, people who had problems with sensitivity to the smoke and the dust and particulates that were in the air that we also took care of. So yes, besides just regular refractions, we also did slit lamp examinations, and we were able to dilate the patients look inside their fundus. We did all of that, but mostly it was providing eye care. Most people the ocular surface was affected because they would have irritation to their corneas, of course, and so we had lots of artificial tears available for them, but the main issue that people had coming in would be they couldn't see.

"So this is where I really want to give a standout cheers and commendation to VSP Eyes of Hope, and also another organization called Power of Sight Foundation," Nozacki continued. "VSP and The Power of Sight Foundation, they brought in all kinds of equipment. So if we had we had 10 stations set up for 10 optometrists to be going simultaneously. VSP brought in all of their equipment. They brought in the BIOs, the condensing lenses, everything was available. And then VSP donated all the frames for free. That was fantastic, because people are able to come in and pick a really nice, beautiful frame, and then The Power of Sight Foundation, they brought in all of their edging equipment, along with a huge supply of lenses. And so we were able to supply the glasses to most of the patients. And I understand that we saw over 230 patients over the course of two days, we're able to give them their glasses while they waited. That's like amazing that someone can come in, get a free eye examination, get their prescription, so that if they needed to go somewhere else, we couldn't provide bifocals so we could give them that prescription. But then if they wanted to just get separate distance glasses and reading glasses, computer glasses, we could give it to them the same day after just an hour wait."

Private practices Azul Vision and Elander Eyecare also played their part in providing eye care services during the wildfires. Agatha Sleboda, OD, of Azul Vision, spoke on the 2 wildfire events the practice's Monrovia clinic held in January. "Myself and Dr Chris Obi served dozens of patients, where we provided all types of eye exams, including problem-focused visits, where we addressed common concerns like dryness, irritation and redness, as well as comprehensive eye exams, including prescribing eye wear," Sleboda said. "For those who lost their glasses in the fire, our patients were able to choose any frame they liked from our optical free of charge, and we also handed out free samples of artificial tears, contact lens solutions, lid scrubs, and bottles of water. Azul Vision was also involved in collecting items like clothing and food to donate to our local Monrovia YMCA.

"We hope that Azul Vision provided some support and relief during such a difficult time," Sleboda continued. "Being displaced, losing your home can be such a devastating event, both physically and emotionally, and our goal was to provide some relief and some sense of stability for our patients, whether it was replacing glasses that were lost in the fire, or even providing compassionate care. We hope that we were able to show our support, and we hope that moving forward, our patients, our community, will remember Azul Vision as a supportive cornerstone within the community."

"I do practice in the Los Angeles area, specifically in Santa Monica, California," Shah said, who practices with Elander Eyecare. "The fires, as we all know, started on Tuesday, January 7. I remember, while seeing patients, I was told that patients were canceling due to an evacuation order at that time. I don't think we really understood the magnitude or where the orders were coming from, but majority of our patients, or I should say several of our patients, live in the Pacific Palisades area, including the practice owner. I think when everyone got this order, or they thought, you know, we've been forced to evacuate before everything will be fine. We will evacuate. Everyone did. So unfortunately that evening, the fires really took a toll in a very devastating way. They were fueled by the Santa Ana winds, which made the fires really relentless, unfortunately, also not allowing helicopters and planes to drop water or fire retardant. And as a result, they've lost, I think, over 24,000 acres of land, including many homes and practices.

"So what that's translated to for our practice, our practice evacuated on Wednesday, January 8, so we did shut down. But what that has meant is our patients haven't been able to come in for necessary eye care. Their priorities are elsewhere right now, getting things sorted out with insurance companies and FEMA and all their belongings, and now slowly being able to go back and see what remains of their homes. So we do hope that our patients will start coming in for some of their most important essential appointments, so that we can continue to take care of their vision correction needs and, most importantly, anything required from a medical standpoint. But we have had patients come in who, unfortunately, from the fumes and the flames, have also suffered some ocular disease, ocular surface conditions that we are addressing, in addition to making sure they have all the contact lenses that they need during this very critical time."