FREEBURG – He’s dedicated a large part of his life helping others in the community and now he is hoping for a bit of help for himself. Snyder County 911 dispatcher, and assistant fire chief Jason Kaufman of the Freeburg Fire Department, has been visually impaired his whole life, and is raising money to purchase a pair of E-Glasses that he says will correct his vision.
He says, “This product is developed in Canada. They basically look like a pair of sunglasses and it has a battery in it, a computer in it and it actually projects images faster than real time through a high vision camera and it gives you the vision that your eyes should give you. For me, my normal vision corrected is 20/70, and with these glasses it would be 20/20.”
The cost of a pair of E-Glasses is $15,000 and is not covered by health insurance. Kaufman says that the glasses would help him make his job easier as well as daily activities, “That’s the main push for these, to make my job easier as a 911 dispatcher, to be able to see the computer screen, and also everyday life. I have a small child who is two and it would give me the opportunity to read him a book that I can’t do at this point without a magnify glass.”
If you would like to help Jason Kaufman, there has been a fund set up at Mifflinburg Bank and Trust called, “E-Glasses for Jason Kaufman.” Donations are accepted at any Mifflinburg Bank and Trust and The Walk Foundation has pledged to match every $100 that is donated. You can also donate by going to the go fund me page at www.gofundme.com/JasonKaufmanEGlass. So far, they have raised $1,200. (Emily Engle)