VSP MOBILE EYECARE CLINIC VISITS SANTINELLI INTERNATIONAL
The new VSP mobile eyecare clinic visited the offices of Santinelli International on Friday, September 17. The mobile clinic, nicknamed “Eyenstein,” contains a full-service, comprehensive eye exam room, a full eyewear dispensary and a state-of-the-art lens finishing lab donated by Santinelli International. It produces and distributes customized eyeglasses to serve communities in need.

Mobile clinic staffers, Niki Myers and Gilbert Melgoza, conducted the tours for each of the small groups that climbed aboard for a full demonstration of the entire process from eye exam to finished glasses.

Franco Aluigi, Santinelli International’s product manager, was instrumental in the design phase of the mobile clinic’s compact lab. Mr. Aluigi noted, “It was wonderful to be a part of the development of this incredible unit which benefits so many who are in need. To see ‘Eyenstein’ in person was a great experience—it looks better than I could have imagined!”

The mobile eyecare clinic partnership and initiative will provide charitable eyecare services and educational outreach to underserved children and adults throughout the country for at least the next five years.


TRANSITIONS PROMOTES EYE HEALTH WORLDWIDE AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Transitions Optical supported the promotion of eye health worldwide through a major sponsorship of the sixth annual World Conference on
Optometric Education and second annual World Congress on Refractive Error conference, held consecutively, September 20 to 24 in Durban, South Africa. The two conferences facilitated sharing of best practices from around the world to help address the global burden of uncorrected refractive error and to support the progression of optometric education.

In addition to financial support provided through the sponsorship, Transitions played an active role by supplying speakers to bring specific eye health issues into focus for attendees, including an estimated 600 optometric and development professionals, and 250 optometric educators from around the globe.

Transitions provided two speakers for the Research and Innovation portion of the program. Peter Kehoe, OD, professional relations advisor to Transitions, spoke on the importance of UV protection, while Paul Berman, OD, provided a lecture on sports vision. Transitions also offered information on its European school outreach program at its booth.

“As a global company, Transitions Optical is not only interested in furthering eye care and supporting current and future educators worldwide, we have access to success stories from around the globe related to several eye health issues, such as promoting the need for UV protection, especially for children,” said Dr. Kehoe. “These conferences provided an excellent opportunity to share our knowledge and be part of a strong worldwide commitment to furthering eye health.”

For more information about the conferences, visit www.icee2010.co.za.

VISION-EASE JOINS INFORMATIONWEEK 500 LIST
Vision-Ease Lens was named for the first-time to this year’s InformationWeek 500 list, an annual ranking of the nation’s most innovative users of business technology. Vision-Ease is ranked at 168 out of 500.

“Being named to the 2010 InformationWeek 500 list is great external validation that our efforts over the last year to improve processes for Vision-Ease were on track,” said Flo Kinzel, global IT leader for Vision-Ease. “The project was a significant undertaking and our department is looking forward to continually evolving the intranet site to meet our changing company-wide needs.”

As part of a larger, company-wide technology upgrade, VEL’s IT department developed an architecture for a Microsoft SharePoint-based intranet system. Dubbed “Lenny,” the new system houses frequently-accessed forms, employee handbook and human resources information, and operational tools, as well as project development and roll-out management tools. “Operationally, the new Lenny site has made day-to-day operations, such as employee communications and document workflow, much more efficient,” said Cindy Mark, VP supply chain.

The InformationWeek 500 ranking spotlights the power of innovation in information technology.  

 —Andrew Karp