OPT Visionary - Fall 2016

48 • NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Last Look NSU is a group of faculty and staff members, students, and alumni that shares a common identity and purpose and engages with the university’s external circle through diverse services, clinical programs, and community- based research and resources. Our reach extends into professional, intellectual, and geographical domains that support, and are the focus of, our educational mission. The College of Optometry supports community activities by engaging students, as well as faculty and staff members, in addressing visual health concerns and issues that affect the visual health of neighborhoods throughout South Florida and the world. Through The Eye Care Institute, NSUCO provides quality, low-cost eye care services by serving diverse populations at five permanent clinic sites in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Fourth-year clinical externs provide care at 59 clinics across the United States and 1 in China, while optometric residents rotate through 12 sites in the region. Students and faculty members provide humanitarian vision care in underserved areas of developing countries through three organizations— the student chapter of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (SVOSH), the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists (FCO), and the National Optometric Student Association (NOSA). Teams of NSUCO volunteers actively participate in delivering visual health information at health fairs, health talks, and other events. Volunteers support advocacy and raising awareness for visual health- related issues by participating in fun walks and fund-raisers in solidarity with those affected by visual impairment and health-related concerns. u 2015–2016 COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS • American Cancer Association • American Diabetes Association • American Heart Association Heart Walk • Babies “R” Us Toys for Vision Development • Broward 4-H • Broward Health • Children’s Services Council of Broward • Council on American-Islamic Relations • Dillard High School • FCO optometric mission to Nicaragua • Florida Heiken Children’s Vision Program at the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind • Fort Lauderdale Lions Club • Fort Lauderdale Seventh-Day Adventist Church • Foundation Fighting Blindness VisionWalk • Hendry County Health Department Rural Health Fair • Holy Cross Hospital and Medical Group • InfantSEE • Kids In Distress, Inc. • Lakeside Elementary School • Lighthouse of Broward • Macula Vision Research Foundation • Memorial Healthcare System • Mourning Family Foundation—Zo’s Family Health & Wellness Groove • NOSA interdisciplinary health mission to Jamaica • NSU A Day for Children • NSU-COM Lifelong Learning Institute • Optometry Giving Sight World Sight Day • PBS KIDS (WPBT Channel 2) • Seussfest at the NSU Alvin Sherman Library • Southwest Focal Point Community Center • Special Olympics Opening Eyes/Healthy Athletes • STEM education for third through sixth graders at the NSU Alvin Sherman Library • Stranahan High School • SVOSH optometric humanitarian mission to the Dominican Republic • Walk Now for Autism Speaks • WPLG Local 10 News Class of 2016 students Angela Diamantakos (left) and Nicole Ardura (right) pose for a photograph with a group of Jamaican children.