Dark Dining 2024

Why do we dine in the dark?

On March 21st, Prevent Blindness Texas hosted Dark Dining Houston to provide an experience to learn more about how vision loss can impact your life and raise funds to help individuals across the state connect to the care they need. Visual impairment knows no boundaries, and our honorees for the evening shed light on why preventing blindness and preserving sight is crucial to each of them.

"The women honored at PBT’s Dark Dining Houston embody what it means to be a change agent and live with purpose to make the lives better for the people they work with and serve. They are keen storytellers with the ability to weave passion, commitment, education, and advocacy into all that they do to engage people and move life-saving work forward. We are grateful to work with them and honor them." Heather Patrick CEO of Prevent Blindness Texas

Dark Dining Houston helped to further PBT’s goal of raising awareness for our statewide mission of preventing blindness and preserving sight. Last year PBT screened more than 57,000 children and adults, certified 1,200 vision screeners, and provided 7,400 individuals with necessary follow-up services. Events such as Dark Dining are important to shining a light on the vision needs of Texas. Thank you to Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs Hodge, Venus Ginés, Dr. Oluwatosin “Tosin” Smith and all who participated in the event!

Honoree, Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs Hodge

Born in Jamaica and educated in the US, Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs Hodge has a keen understanding of working with people of all cultures. Her company, De’Cordova Eyewear, was founded from her deep passion to eradicate eye diseases and help people with their vision. While growing up, Dr. Hodge's dad experienced serious eye complications which ultimately left him blind. In her quest to find a cure, Dr. Hodge entered the field of optometry and started De’Cordova Eyewear; named in honor of her father, Bernard De’Cordova Coombs.

De’Cordova Eyewear is more than just vision for the eyes, the company helps patients find their full vision and purpose, starting with their eyes. Dr. Hodge is also honored to be a leader in the community through Optometry Divas Alumni Ambassador and current member and John Maxwell Leader and Coach certified since 2017.

Dr. Hodge is the mother of 2 handsome men, lover of humans, and author of “ A Girl with a Big Vision," giving back free eyewear and eye care to the children of Jamaica.

Honoree, Venus Ginés

Ms. Venus Ginés is a 30-year breast cancer survivor who suffered a recurrence in 2017 after 25 years of survivorship and again in the Fall of 2022 with the third bout of Triple Negative Invasive Lobular Carcinoma. In 2018, Ms. Ginés retired as a faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, teaching cultural competence and health literacy, as well as conducting research on Latino medical mistrust to devote her time to her Latino(a) advocacy work.

From her personal experience with cancer and her sister’s untimely death of cervical cancer, Ms. Ginés founded Día de la Mujer Latina, Inc., (DML), in 1997 as a national non-profit organization, celebrating its signature health fiesta in 40 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, providing the medically underserved Latina community with culturally and linguistically proficient health education, early detection screening for chronic diseases, training of Promotores/CHWs and culturally-tailored preventive programs for Latino teens and patient-centered navigation. In 2009, Venus became a Texas State Certified Instructor of Promotores/Community Health Workers (P/CHWs) with DML being the first approved bilingual Statewide Sponsored Certification Training Program for P/CHWs and Instructors in Texas.

By March 2020, DML trained over 5820 P/CHW on Dispelling Myths about COVID-19 with subsequent training on Telehealth Community Navigation, Behavioral Health Community Navigation, Vaccination Community Navigators, and Clinical Trial Community Navigation for potential career opportunities. DML sponsored 14 P/CHWs Instructors to become bilingual Mental Health First Aid Instructors in anticipation of the need for more crisis interventions on a community level.

Ms. Ginés' recent launch of the Telehealth Community Navigation Contact Center, staffed by Bilingual Promotores/CHWs, continues to successfully answer hundredths of calls, debunking misinformation and promoting health equity by incorporating the bilingual Telehealth Nurse Navigator, who is also a P/CHW-Instructor, to provide warm transfer calls to clinical partners. On June 30, 2022, DML was awarded the Community Health Worker Apprenticeship Program under the Dept of Labor and began its program on September 8, 2022, to expand the role of P/CHWs in public health and mental health peer services.

Honoree, Dr. Oluwatosin “Tosin” Smith

Oluwatosin “Tosin” Smith received her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS) at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She completed a residency in Ophthalmology at Howard University Hospital where she served as Chief Resident and went on to the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, PA where she did her Fellowship in Glaucoma. She is currently a partner Physician at the Glaucoma Associates of Texas and Adjunct Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the UT Southwestern Medical College in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Smith has many interests in the management of adult and childhood glaucoma. She has numerous publications, serves on many advisory boards, and is a member of multiple professional societies including the AGS, ASCRS, and AAO where she actively volunteers. She continues to be involved with various aspects of clinical research and is a big supporter of international education, medical missions, and global outreach.