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Ohio Advocates Attend Prevent Blindness 13 TH Annual “Eyes On Capitol Hill” Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 
For more information:
Whitney Anderson
Prevent Blindness

Phone: (800) 301-2020 ext. 105

                             Ohio Advocates Attend Prevent Blindness 13th Annual “Eyes On Capitol Hill” Event

Columbus, OH (July 31, 2018) – Ohio Delegates Carolyn King (Powell), Sherry Lewis (Orient), Amy Pulles (Pickerington), Dr. Marjean Taylor Kulp (Hilliard), Kira Baldonado (Anna) and Sherry Williams (Bexley) joined 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.

Ohio delegates visited the offices of United States Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman and Representatives Steve Stivers, Jim Jordan, Bob Gibbs, David Joyce, and Joyce Beatty. The group engaged in discussion about eye health and safety issues that affect the legislator’s constituents.

Prevent Blindness asked for the following public policy support:

  • 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. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and Congresspeople Michael Turner, Tim Ryan, Robert Gibbs, Steve Chabot, David Joyce, Bill Johnson and Marcy Kaptur are also Ohio members of the CVC. 

 “We appreciate our members of Congress providing Prevent Blindness delegates with the opportunity to speak with them about the importance of providing support for programs and access to care that helps prevent vision loss,” said Sherry Williams, President & CEO of the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness.

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

Ohio delegates Sherry Williams, Sherry Lewis, Amy Pulles, Kira Baldonado and Dr. Marjean Taylor Kulp visited the offices of United States Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman and Representatives Steve Stivers, Jim Jordan, Bob Gibbs, David Joyce, and Joyce Beatty in Washington, D.C. to promote increasing access to vision care for all Ohioans. 

 

(L-R): Carolyn King, Emma Vaughn (Press Assistant/Legislative Correspondent for Congressman David P. Joyce) and Sherry Williams

(L-R): Amy Pulles, Drew C. Hatter (Legislative Aide for Congressman Steve Stivers), Sherry Lewis, Carolyn King, Sherry Williams, Kira Baldonado

(L-R): Sherry Lewis, Sara Bell (Legislative Aide for Senator Rob Portman), Carolyn King, Amy Pulles, Sherry Williams

(L-R): Amy Pulles, Sherry Lewis, Brian Bates (Legislative Aide for Congressman Bob Gibbs)

(L-R): Amy Pulles, Kira Baldonado, Congressman Jim Jordan, Sherry Lewis, Dr. Marjean Kulp, Sherry Williams

(L-R): Sherry Lewis, Dr. Marjean Kulp, David Scala (Legislative Aide for Congressman Jim Jordan), Sherry Lewis, Amy Pulles, Kira Baldonado

 

(L-R): Abigail Duggan (Senior Policy Advisor for Senator Sherrod Brown), Sherry Williams and Dr. Marjean Kulp