FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information:
Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate
Dori Jennings
(614)270-0746
[email protected]
Prevent Blindness Offers New Educational Resources for November’s Diabetes-Related Eye Disease Awareness Month
-Prevent Blindness Offers Videos, Fact Sheets, Social Media Graphics, PowerPoint Presentations to Educate Public on Potential Effects of Diabetes on Vision-
Columbus, OH (November 2, 2022) – According to the 2022 National Diabetes Statistics Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 11 percent of the U.S. population (approximately 37.3 million people) have diabetes. Alarmingly, 96 million people aged 18 years or older have prediabetes (38 percent of the adult US population). And, diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 18–64 years.
The Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness has declared November as Diabetes-related Eye Disease Month in an effort to provide the public with a variety of helpful tools to prevent unnecessary vision loss from diabetes.
In 2022, Prevent Blindness revamped its popular Diabetes & the Eyes Educational Toolkit, available in English and Spanish, which includes educational resources, such as Power Point presentations, shareable social media graphics and a dedicated webpage. Fact sheets, including the new “Diabetes-related Eye Disease and Mental Health” fact sheet are also available. These resources are intended for healthcare professionals, community health educators, and those in a caregiving or diabetes education role.
The Diabetes & The Eyes program, supported by funding from Regeneron, also includes:
Comprehensive Video Series– Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate and Prevent Blindness produced a new series of videos, including “Diabetes, Vision Loss, and Mental Wellness.”
Videos funded in part by Focus on Diabetes™, an eye health initiative of the American Diabetes Association® include: “The Patient Perspective: Diabetes-related Eye Disease,” and the upcoming videos “Newly Diagnosed with Diabetes: What you need to know about your eyes”, “Patient centered care”, “Advice from a patient living with diabetes”, “Vision loss and diabetes,” and “Introduction to the Diabetes + the Eyes Educational Toolkit.”
Patient Education Webinar– Panelists of the “Diabetes and Your Eyes: A Conversation Around Patient-Centered Care” webinar discuss how health care providers coordinate care for persons with diabetes, talk with each other, and consider patient needs. Leading doctors from throughout the United States who care for individuals with diabetes as well as persons with diabetes participate in the conversation.
Community-Level Health Education and Support– Prevent Blindness affiliates across the country continue to work with other local partner organizations to educate the public on a variety of vision and eye health issues related to diabetes, and offer support resources. Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate’s HealthyEyes program trains health professionals to provide aging eye health education, including diabetes-related eye disease information, offers guidance on disease management for Ohioans with diabetes, conducts vision screenings, and provides referrals for donated eye care for aging adults at high-risk for vision problems.
“Many people with diabetes may not know about the damaging effects the disease can have on vision,” said Amy Pulles, President & CEO, the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness. “We thank our partners for helping us educate the public regarding the steps that can be taken today in order to help save sight from diabetes-related eye disease.”
For more information on the “Diabetes & the Eyes” program, please visit https://www.preventblindness.org/diabetes-and-eyes-educational-toolkit. For general diabetes information, call Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate at 800-301-2020 or pbohio.org, or visit http://preventblindness.org/diabetes. For a free listing of organizations and services that provide financial assistance for vision care in English or Spanish, please visit https://preventblindness.org/vision-care-financial-assistance-information/.
About Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate
Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation’s leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. The Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness serves all 88 Ohio counties, providing direct services to 1,000,000 Ohioans annually and educating millions of consumers about what they can do to protect and preserve their precious gift of sight. For more information or to contribute, call 800-301-2020 or donate here.
Visit us at pbohio.org. Follow us: facebook.com/pbohio/.
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