Keystone Blind Association was recently awarded the contracts to provide specialized services and prevention of blindness services in Lawrence County. These contracts are funded (in part) by the PA Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Labor and Industry and administered by the PA Association for the Blind.
In a limited fashion, KBA has been providing services to Lawrence County residents for several years. With the addition of the specialized services contract, we will be making a concerted effort to contact Lawrence County blind and visually impaired persons to inform them of the full range of services available to them through Keystone.
No stranger to Lawrence County, for the last 3 years Keystone has been providing assistive technology services to Lawrence County’s visually impaired population, conducting Technology Information Clubs and providing intensive one on one assistive technology training at our Sharon office.
For the last 12 years, we have been providing services to Lawrence County’s blind children. They participate in our “Keystone Kids” programs – attending summer day camps, monthly programs on weekends during the school year and participating in our extended field trips to Disney World (twice), Niagara Falls, Toronto and other locations.
Many Lawrence County blind and visually impaired persons have received Rehabilitation instruction and Orientation & Mobility instruction from our certified instructors.
All services are designed to foster independence to a target population that is at high risk for institutionalization and dependency. Keystone is accredited by NAC (National Accreditation Council of Agencies for the Blind).
Keystone will also conduct vision screenings for adults and children and provide educational programs on eye health and eye safety. Our Prevention of Blindness programs are also accredited.
Keystone has been putting all of our efforts into identifying clients and developing service plans. We have not had time to identify an appropriate location to set up a Lawrence County office. That is something we hope to accomplish over the next several weeks. If any of our readers are aware of some reasonably priced office space, we would appreciate being alerted to it. In the meantime, we are operating out of our Sharon headquarters.
The addition of Lawrence County fits comfortably into a service corridor that starts in Crawford County, includes Mercer County, and ends in Lawrence County. Further, Lawrence County borders Keystone’s affiliate agency in Beaver County. The contiguous nature of the counties will make for a more cost effective, client friendly service system.
