HOPE Services Selected for Gift of Sight Program - Furlong Vision Correction to provide free vision correction services

For Immediate Release: July 11, 2006.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Ten HOPE Services clients and instructors today received the opportunity for free vision correction services as part of Furlong Vision Correction's (FVC) Gift of Sight program for nonprofit agencies. HOPE Services provides programs and services to 3,000 individuals with developmental disabilities such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism and other conditions closely related to mental retardation and requiring similar programming. Providing a comprehensive array of quality services, HOPE enables infants, young people, adults and seniors to live and participate in their communities.

An eye examination to establish eligibility for services will take place at FVC in Campbell on July 13 and procedures will be performed on August 17, announced Dr. Michael Furlong, Medical Director of FVC. The donation of services is valued at $50,000. "We are delighted to be recipients of FVC's Gift of Sight," said Dr. Joe Campbell, CEO of HOPE Services. "For the general public, vision correction procedures are elective, but for our clients and instructors it means a great deal more. HOPE clients and staff cannot afford vision correction procedures and have had issues with not being able to see well due to scratched lenses, infected eyes, glasses broken or knocked off on the job. FVC's generous service will greatly enhance their daily lives, self esteem and ability to perform their jobs."

"We are honored to work with such a worthy organization," said Dr. Furlong. "We are pleased to provide our services to HOPE clients and help them build a better life without glasses as well as aid HOPE instructors who will greatly benefit from performing their jobs without cumbersome glasses or contacts. It is important to us to ensure that local residents are not left out of benefiting from the latest corrective eye technology because they cannot afford the procedure."

HOPE instructors were chosen by a lottery system and HOPE clients were selected based on their ability to sustain eye procedures. Katrina Nash is one of the lucky recipients of the Gift of Sight program. She is a single mother of three who lives in San Jose. She teaches educational developmental skills to HOPE's lowest skill clients, ones with severe physical disabilities. Katrina's job requires lifting and repositioning clients and often her glasses get knocked off by one of the clients who may have spasticity problems or behavioral problems. For Katrina, LASIK surgery is a great benefit.

Other HOPE Service patients include a client who works in the Community Employment program in Santa Cruz; Scott Miranda, a Supported Living Client from Capitola who broke his glasses and cannot afford another pair; Sheila Davidson, a job coach in Salinas who teaches landscaping and places and trains clients to work at major retail stores; Vi Harris, an instructor at the senior center in San Jose who is in need of three pairs of glasses to perform his job; and Andrea Cabello, from Santa Clara, who also places and trains clients to work at large retail centers.

The Gift of Sight program was launched in 2002 by Dr. Furlong to assist those not able to afford corrective services. Previous beneficiaries of the Gift of Sight program include charitable organizations such as American Cancer Society, Diabetes Society of Santa Clara County, Crohn?s and Colitis Foundation, Valle Monte League, Junior League of San Jose, Make-A-Wish Foundation and various local schools.

About Furlong Vision Correction
Furlong Vision Correction is a leading vision correction surgery center based in Campbell, Calif. The center uses the latest state-of-the-art technology to provide the highest quality personalized care in FDA approved eye procedures. Dr. Michael Furlong established Furlong Vision Correction in 1998 and offers a broad range of services including Wavefront LASIK, CK (conductive keratoplasty), CK after LASIK, cataract surgery and multi-focal lenses. Furlong has performed more than 15,000 LASIK procedures and is one of the first doctors in the nation to perform CK, a non-laser vision treatment designed to treat presbyopia, or "aging eyes." Furlong Vision is the only Bay Area TLC Vision laser associate center, North America's premier eye care services company. For more information on Furlong Vision, visit www.furlongvision.com.

Media Contacts:
Karla Samdahl, HOPE Services
(408) 284 2858

Birgit Johnston, Furlong Vision
(408) 399 8088