FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information:
Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate
Dori Jennings (614) 270-0746
Ohio Congressman Latta Joins Congressional Vision Caucus
Columbus, OH (March 31, 2020) – The Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness is pleased to announce that
Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) has joined the Congressional Vision Caucus (CVC) in recognition of
the very serious public health impact that vision problems in Ohio has on our economy, quality of
life, job productivity and educational success.
The Congressional Vision Caucus (CVC) is a bipartisan coalition of United States Congressional
Members dedicated to strengthening and stimulating a national dialogue and policy on vision-related
problems and disabilities.
Congressman Latta will be joining the following Ohio Members of Congress already signed on as
members of the CVC: Michael Turner, Tim Ryan, Robert Gibbs, Steve Chabot, David Joyce, Bill
Johnson, Troy Balderson and Marcy Kaptur. Senator Sherrod Brown is the second U.S. Senator to join
the CVC since it became bicameral in 2007. Ohio Representative Steve Stivers serves as one of three
co-chairs of the CVC.
Vision impairment is one of the most feared disabilities. More Ohioans than ever are facing the
threat of blindness from age-related eye disease. The number of Ohio seniors affected by these
diseases is expected to double over the next 25 years as the Baby Boomer generation ages, largely
resulting from the eye diseases of diabetic retinopathy, cataract, glaucoma, and age-related
macular degeneration (AMD). More than 2.5 million Ohioans will be affected. And, there are 500,000
Ohio children with vision problems and half go undetected or treated. Annual costs of vision
problems in Ohio is $5.4 BILLION!
“Thanks to the Members of the Congressional Vision Caucus for helping us bring attention to our
work in providing free access to eye care for the poor, teaching teachers and health care providers
to vision screen to find problems early, advocating for policies that save sight and costs to
society, and funding research projects, said Sherry Williams, President & CEO of Prevent Blindness,
Ohio Affiliate.
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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 more than 1,400,000 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.
Visit us on the web at pbohio.org, Facebook at facebook.com/pbohio/, or Twitter at twitter.com/PB_Ohio.
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