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Firefighter Needs Your Help for E-Glasses

PENN TOWNSHIP — Jason Kaufman works his normal shift at the Snyder County 911 Center, and unless you watch him closely, you’d never know he has a me...

PENN TOWNSHIP -- Jason Kaufman works his normal shift at the Snyder County 911 Center, and unless you watch him closely, you'd never know he has a medical condition.

"I'm legally blind in my left eye. I see day and light out of that only. My right eye with correction I'm between 20/60 and 20/70," Kaufman said.

Jason has what is called "Retinopathy of Prematurity," a condition caused by him being born premature. The 35-year-old from Selinsgrove uses reading and magnifying glasses, as well as special technology to see the computer screen at work. Jason is not only a 911 dispatcher.

"I've served as a volunteer fire chief in two different departments for the past ten years. I've been an emergency medical technician and an emergency medical technician instructor," Kaufman said.

Jason recently took a trip to Ottawa, Canada to visit a company called E-Sight, which makes a special pair of glasses that will help him.

"With these glasses I was able to see on the eye chart 20/23 and on the reading eye chart I was seeing 20/20," Kaufman said.

"These glasses would really improve his abilities to do his job and improve his quality of life," Cheryl Stiefel said.

Jason says the only problem is the E-Glasses cost $15,000 and insurance does not cover it. He says his goal is to be able to read a book to his young son without using a magnifying glass.

Jason hopes to not only raise enough money to get a pair of E-Glasses for himself, he wants to get a pair for an area child as well.

"To start an account for somebody else in the area or child who might be able to use these glasses," Kaufman said.

A GoFundMe account has been set up as well as an account at Mifflinburg Bank and Trust under "Jason Kaufman E-Glass Fund," if you would like to donate.

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