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Eyes On Capitol Hill 2018

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Prevent Blindness

Whitney Anderson

Phone:  (800) 301-2020 ext. 105

Email address: [email protected]

 
                           Ohio Residents Head to Washington to Advocate for Support for Programs, Research to Save Sight

Columbus, OH (July 10, 2018) – Ohio Delegates Carolyn King (Powell), Sherry Lewis (Orient), Amy Pulles (Pickerington)  and Sherry Williams (Bexley) will join delegates from across the country for the thirteenth annual Prevent Blindness “Eyes on Capitol Hill” advocacy day on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, in Washington, D.C.  Since 2006, the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness and its national office have brought citizens from across the country to meet with members of the House and Senate, and their staff, to discuss the importance of vision and eye health programs and research.
“We are proud to continue to work with members of government through our Eyes on Capitol Hill event, as well as other local and national advocacy efforts, to help protect the gift of sight and continue to bring Americans to quality, affordable eye care,” said Sherry Williams, President & CEO of Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate.

This year’s Eyes on Capitol Hill meetings have been scheduled to specifically ask elected officials to:

  • Provide at least $3.3 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 to maintain vision and eye health efforts at the Vision Health Initiative (VHI) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adequate FY 2019 resources will allow the CDC to apply previous CDC vision and eye health research findings to develop effective prevention and early detection interventions, with an initial focus on early detection of diabetic retinopathy.

  • Provide $3.5 million to the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (MCHB-HRSA) to directly address early identification and treatment of children’s vision problems.

  • Provide at least $4,000,000 for the Glaucoma Project at CDC.  The program is intended to reach those populations experiencing the greatest disparity in access to glaucoma care through an integrated collaboration among private and public organizations.

  • Provide $800 million to the National Eye Institute (NEI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for FY 2019 in order to bolster efforts to identify the underlying causes of eye disease and vision loss, improve early detection and diagnosis, and advance prevention and treatment efforts.

  • Protect the CDC’s public health response capabilities from a drastic loss of funding in the absence of the Prevention and Public Health Fund by providing a corresponding budget increase in FY 2019. 

  • Join the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Vision Caucus (CVC) The CVC, seeks to achieve its goals of strengthening a national dialogue on the importance of vision health through Congressional briefings, Dear Colleague letters, and press conferences. Ohio Congressman, Steve Stivers, serves as one of the four co-chairs of this bipartisan caucus.

On July 18, all Eyes on Capitol Hill delegates will attend the seventh annual Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health National Summit at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. 

For more information on Eyes on Capitol Hill, or Prevent Blindness and its advocacy initiatives, please call 800-331-2020 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 prevent blindness and preserve 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 and Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/PB_Ohio.