CRAIG HOCKENBERRY NAMED 2013 HEALTH CARE HERO The Business Courier hosted its 2013 Health Care Heroes awards dinner on Tuesday night, where finalists were honored and winners received recognition. This award ranks very high on the list of public service throughout the City and all the finalists had incredible backgrounds. The winner of the Community Outreach category was OneSight Vision Center at Oyler School. The award was accepted by Oyler Principal Craig Hockenberry. Craig Hockenberry pathed the way for many services at Oyler School throughout his 15 years as the principal of the inner-city school. His partnerships with the Cincinnati Health Department, Growing Well, the Community Learning Center Institute, Delta Dental, The Cincinnati Early Learning Center, St. Al, and many other helped forge a path to public-private partnership across Cincinnati Public. Mr. Hockenberry took the concept to rural Adams County as well as Three Rivers where he was the superintendent for six years. The vision center at Oyler was the first vision center located in a public school in the United States. Craig Hockenberry leadership and experience with partnerships helped jump start the concept in the region and across the nation. CLICK HERE Even before it publicly opened at Oyler School, doctors at the nation’s first school-based, self-sustaining vision center discovered a fifth-grade boy who has been living virtually blind. Doctors detected the boy’s acute vision problem while testing equipment to prepare for the public opening and dedication of the OneSight Vision Center inside the Lower Price Hill school last week. The self-sustaining vision center also outfitted the boy with glasses, as it is expected to do for hundreds more children. “If you grow up in a world where you don’t know any different, you think this is the way it is,’’ says Craig Hockenberry, Oyler's principal. “You can imagine the impact on learning when a child cannot see the board or a read a book. The vision center will help us get these kids the vision care they so desperately need.” The full-service vision center will provide comprehensive eye exams, glasses, fittings, adjustments, medical eye care and vision therapy with an onsite optometrist, ophthalmic technician and optician. It is expected to serve about 2,000 students per year. CRAIG HOCKENBERRY CINCINNATI, OHIO