Los Angeles, June 11, 2007---A Culver City woman who was left paralyzed from an auto accident 15 years ago is now living without her glasses, thanks to Maloney Vision Institute (MVI) of Los Angeles.

Patricia Hernandez-Hill is the 11th person to be treated at MVI as part of the Focus on Independence program, a national effort in which key eye surgeons provide LASIK or vision correction surgery at no charge to traumatic spinal cord injury victims.

"For most people, glasses are a real nuisance, but for Patricia and other quadriplegics glasses are an actual disability. If they hit a bump in their wheelchair and their glasses slip down their nose, they are unable to push them back up. Our Focus on Independence program is aimed to make day to day life a little easier for those patients," said Robert K. Maloney, MD, founder of the Maloney Vision Institute.

Patricia Hernandez-Hill found about the program through a friend. She contacted MVI by phone and was treated less than two weeks later. She is ecstatic.

"I can't tell you how wonderful it is that a great surgeon like Robert Maloney would perform this surgery for free even though he didn't even know who I was. He feels like a friend to me now. I will tell you that I love my new vision," said Hernandez-Hill.

Ms. Hernandez-Hill is typical of many spinal cord injury victims. She has courageously gone on with her life since the devastating auto accident in Los Angeles in 1992. She earned her realtors license and is now thinking about opening a bakery. She is married and planning to adopt a child.

Robert Maloney helped launch the Focus on Independence (FOI) program nationally with Dr. Daniel Durrie, Overland Park, Ks. Dr. Maloney is the only surgeon in Southern California who is participating in the program. There are over two dozen surgeons around the country who are part of the FOI program. FOI is intended for patients over 18 years old who have suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury and have lost the use of their hands and/or arms, making it difficult or impossible to put on or take off their glasses without assistance.

"Our commitment is to find an experienced LASIK surgeon within 100 miles of any quadriplegic patient to do LASIK or vision correction surgery free of charge for quadriplegic patients," said Dr. Maloney.

Focus on Independence is a 501-c-3 organization. Maloney Vision Institute (www.maloneyvision.com) is located 10921 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 900 Los Angeles, California, 90024. For more information about FOI, contact Maloney Vision at 310-208-3937.