SAN JOSE — When 11-year-old Destiny Hernandez broke her glasses while playing ball with the other kids at school, her grandmother struggled to get her a replacement pair.

Susana Trejo Martinez — Destiny’s legal guardian — said her granddaughter’s needed glasses since she was five years old for nearsightedness and recalled how she often complained about headaches, pain behind her eyes and redness when she didn’t have her glasses for just a few days.

But although Trejo Martinez had vision insurance for the family and could see a doctor to ask for another pair of glasses, the insurer declined her request, saying it wasn’t time for Destiny to get a new pair.

Trejo Martinez reached out to Healthier Kids Foundation on the recommendation of a teacher. The foundation staff spoke with the doctors and her insurance provider and were able to get Destiny a new pair of glasses in just three days, much to their delight.

“I’m immensely grateful for the foundation and the people (who helped us). When I needed it most, they helped me,” Trejo Martinez said in Spanish. “In this case, I didn’t have work, I didn’t have money and I didn’t know what to do, right? But thank God I got what they (my granddaughters) needed, thanks to the foundation. And I’m immensely grateful because they concern themselves with the wellbeing of the children.”

Trejo Martinez’s story is a familiar one to the staff at Healthier Kids Foundation, a San Jose nonprofit organization made up of health screeners, case managers, community members, executives and health professionals to serve kids in Santa Clara County and help identify their unmet health needs and help them and their families get the support they need.

Healthier Kids Foundation CEO Melinda Snavely said the foundation is seeking a grant of $40,000 through Wish Book for their VisionFirst program, which ensures that low-income and underserved children in Santa Clara County receive vision screenings and services.

“If your kids never had an unmet vision need and you haven’t been told about it, you’re probably not going to the eye doctor,” Snavely said. “The other thing we know is that kids can squint their eyes and see just well enough but not well enough to … read the textbook.”

In Santa Clara County, Hispanic or Latino people make up just over a quarter of the population, and the county has addressed issues around inequitable healthcare access among Latino American communities. According to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, only 4.6% of Santa Clara County residents were uninsured between 2021 and 2022.

However, the Latino American population had the highest percentage of uninsured people at 9%, according to the county’s Latino health brief. The county also reported that 12% of Latino residents experienced gaps in coverage or were uninsured at some point in the past year, a higher proportion than other racial or ethnic groups.

The foundation frequently works with Latino or Hispanic children and their families. Between 2022 and 2023, the organization screened more than 5,000 students who spoke Spanish. The following year, they screened more than 3,000 students who spoke Spanish. In the last two fiscal years, the foundation has conducted vision screenings for around 24,000 Hispanic children.

Healthier Kids Foundation aims to support families through the entire process until their needs are met, Snavely said, helping children from low socioeconomic backgrounds or those struggling with language barriers or missing regular checkups.

“We then get to know the families, we build a relationship with them and we support them all the way through their journey to ensure they get that pair of glasses in the end,” Snavely said. “… the kid knows they can’t see, the teacher knows they can’t see, the parent knows they can’t see, but they can’t figure out what to do next and how to navigate that space, either because they’re undocumented or they don’t have insurance or because they never learned how to use their insurance.”

Snavely said that holding vision screenings at schools can help parents find out what needs their child may have, whether or not they have health insurance. From that point, the organization uses donations to do all the work after a child’s eye exam right up until they get glasses, walking parents through the entire process.

That can include enrolling uninsured students into Medi-Cal, helping them find a medical provider that accepts their insurance, helping parents or caregivers schedule their child’s eye exam appointment and even providing transportation services as needed.

Lizbeth Rangel recalled being contacted by Healthier Kids Foundation after her 5-year-old daughter, Emely Mendoza, had her vision tested at school last year. Rangel said Emely has needed glasses for her astigmatism since she was a toddler, but Medi-Cal wouldn’t cover the cost, and Rangel couldn’t afford to pay out of pocket.

Health screener Sarah Sanchez, left, checks the vision of Dakodo Howard, a 15-year-old sophomore, at the Healthier Kids Foundation screening at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Wish Book for the Healthier Kids Foundation. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

This is a common experience. Between 2017 to 2021, Santa Clara County also reported that over half of Latino households in the county spent more than 30% of their income on rent, while 45% of county residents said the same. The high cost of housing in the South Bay often means families don’t have enough money to afford essentials, like nutritious food or health care, which can lead to increased stress, mental health conditions and an increased risk of disease, according to Santa Clara County’s Latino health assessment.

Rangel said the foundation helped her speak with Medi-Cal and a doctor, ensuring that Emely got new glasses the day after she first contacted them.

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“It’s a good program,” Rangel said, “because … you could end up paying for things that aren’t covered by Medi-Cal, and the foundation helps you (take care of those issues).”

Rangel said that her daughter used to not be able to differentiate between letters and numbers and would squint while watching TV, but she doesn’t have trouble seeing since receiving her new glasses.

Snavely said: “Kids can’t learn if their basic needs aren’t being met.”

Staff writer Luis Melecio-Zambrano contributed to this report.

THE WISH BOOK SERIES
Wish Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by The Mercury News. Since 1983, Wish Book has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.

WISH
Donations will go toward Healthier Kids Foundation’s VisionFirst program, which ensures that low-income and underserved children in Santa Clara County receive vision screenings and services. Goal: $40,000

HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com/donate or mail in this form.

ONLINE EXTRA
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