The Heiken Fund was set up as a memorial to Dr. Bruce Heiken, a past-president of the Dade County Optometric Association, who died of cancer in 1993. Dr. Heiken's pro bono care of indigent children became an important part of his professional practice. The Heiken Fund's goal has been to reach out to the families of children who do not qualify for Medicaid but lack the financial means or health insurance to pay for these services.

Prior to the establishment of the Heiken Fund, there was no centralized means for delivering eye care to needy children in Miami-Dade County. Every year school screenings and teacher observations identify thousands of students in need of eye care. The Heiken Fund was created to help students who might otherwise fall through the cracks in our fractured health care delivery system and never receive the eye care they need. Now, any needy child from grades K though 12 may receive eye care from one centralized resource.

A network of 60 optometric physicians from the Dade County Optometric Association made a commitment to continue and expand Dr. Heiken's work, providing services in their professional offices. With the demand for eye care services skyrocketing, the Heiken Fund in 1999 initiated the Instant Vision Program. This program lets the children be examined and their glasses fitted right at school. An optometric physician and an assistant travel to the schools in a mini-van with a full array of portable equipment. In early 2002, funding was obtained for a second mobile unit to provide on-site examinations and fit eye glasses.

The optometrists of Dade County, with numerous charitable partners, have nurtured the Heiken Fund from its very humble beginnings into one of the community's most important resources for promoting children's heath and learning potential. Our participating partners include Health Foundation of South Florida, Public Health Trust, Blank Family Foundation, Miami Dade County Schools and the United Teachers of Dade.