This petition to STOP the unfair expansion of Prison Industry Eyewear services that reduce the access, timeliness, and quality of vision care that our local children deserve in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties.

The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) recently informed CenCal Health, our local provider for low income health care, that effective January 1, all CenCal eyewear MUST be fabricated by the Prison Industry Authority (PIA).  This change will have negative consequence on the access and quality of vision care of children in San Luis Obispo and other coastal counties. Those children with academic challenges and from the lowest social economical families of our county will be most affected by this change.  With the addition of Affordable Health Care covered children, CenCal Health is the largest provider for children’s health care in San Luis Obispo county.

It is expected that using PIA will double the turn around time of optical treatment orders.  That will quadruple with the higher prescriptions needed for a number of our children.  With our local optical fabrication, patients receive their glasses in days (sometime same day) not weeks.  This would not be acceptable with a pharmacy order, why should it be with our CenCal children?

Please help STOP this unfair expansion of PIA services that reduce the access, timeliness and quality of vision care that our local children deserve in San Luis Obispo county.  Stopping this expansion means no changes will be made to our current system.