For more information:
Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate
Taylor Elder
Phone: (614) 886-1706 X 105
[email protected]
August is Declared Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month by Prevent Blindness and the National Optometric Association
– Non-profit Groups Join Together to Educate Public on the Importance of Healthy Vision for Kids-
Columbus, Ohio (July 31, 2019) – Across the state of Ohio, many children are beginning a new school year and healthy vision will be critical to their academic success. As a child grows, an untreated eye disease or condition becomes more difficult to correct. These can worsen and lead to other serious problems as well as affect reading ability, focus, behavior, personality and social adjustment in school. Vision problems that can affect children include Amblyopia, (“lazy eye”), Strabismus, (“crossed eyes”), and the most common forms of refractive error: myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness).
For the second year in a row, The Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness, Prevent Blindness and the National Optometric Association (NOA) are teaming up to declare August as Children’s Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month to educate parents and caregivers on the steps that should be taken to ensure that students are provided with the best opportunity to have a successful school year through healthy vision.
To help educate parents and in celebration of its 10th anniversary, the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness is offering the newly revised “Guide to Vision Health for Your Newborn, Infant, and Toddler.” This no-cost comprehensive resource offers information on a variety of topics, including common milestones for visual development, how to help your baby’s vision to develop, warning signs of possible vision problems, and more. The earlier a vision disorder can be identified and treated, the stronger start to learning and development a child will have.
A child may be at higher risk of developing a vision problem if he or she:
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- Was born prematurely (less than 32 weeks completed gestation.)
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- Has a family history of vision disorders, such as childhood cataract, amblyopia (may also be called lazy eye), misaligned eyes, eye tumors, or wore glasses before first grade.
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- Has had an eye injury (problems resulting from childhood eye injuries may develop much later in life.)
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- Has been diagnosed with a problem that could affect his or her physical, mental and/or, emotional development.
“By diagnosing and treating vision problems early, we can actually help prevent vision loss later in life,” said Sherry Williams, President & CEO of the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness. “Vision is critical in how a child develops and by ensuring all of our children have access to vision screenings and professional eye exams, we are helping build a brighter future.”
Prevent Blindness partner, OCuSOFT ® Inc., a privately-held eye and skincare company dedicated to innovation in eyelid hygiene and ocular health, will make a donation to Prevent Blindness in support of Children’s Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month.
For more information on children’s eye health and safety, or financial assistance programs, please call Prevent Blindness at (800) 301-2020 or visit www.pbohio.org.
About Prevent Blindness
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 is Ohio’s leading volunteer nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing blindness and preserving sight. We serve all 88 Ohio counties, providing direct services to more than 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 make a contribution, call 800-301-2020. Or, visit us on the web at www.pbohio.org or facebook.com/pbohio. Or, visit us on the web at preventblindness.org or facebook.com/preventblindness.
About the National Optometric Association
The National Optometric Association (NOA) was founded in 1969 in Richmond, Virginia, as a not-for-profit corporation. The NOA is comprised primarily of minority optometrists from throughout the United States. The recruitment of minority students into the schools and colleges of optometry and their placement into appropriate practice settings upon graduation are two priorities of the NOA. Coincident with these priorities is the underlying purpose of the NOA — advancing the visual health of minority populations through the delivery of effective and efficient eye and vision care services to the minority community, a shared priority with Prevent Blindness. The NOA is committed to reducing visual impairment and blindness by increasing awareness, education, community outreach and screenings in urban areas, and partnership with the Prevent Blindness network of affiliates. More information about the NOA is available online at: http://www.nationaloptometricassociation.com/