Eyes on Capitol Hill: Giving Voice to Vision

Prevent Blindness America’s new Cost of Vision Problems report was released yesterday and the numbers are staggering. In Texas alone, $4.9 BILLION are spent annually on eye and vision problems and $139 billion are spent annually across the U.S.

Prevent Blindness Texas staff

Debbie Goss and Monica Saenz

at the U.S. Capitol

“It is important that people understand that eye disease is among the most expensive conditions in our country, with over half the cost currently being assumed by aging patients and their families,” said Debbie Goss, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness Texas. 

With this surprising new information, now, more than ever is the time to start advocating for the importance of federal investment in eye health and vision. Prevent Blindness Texas, along with other vision and health organizations, is in Washington, D.C. this week speaking with lawmakers and informing them about how effective public health  initiatives, if funded, can help increase early detection of vision loss, which can reduce the number of people affected by blindness.

Prevent Blindness America's Director of Government Affairs Ali Manson

and Prevent Blindness Texas Board member Kathleen Murphy

with Debbie Goss and Monica Saenz outside of Senator Ted Cruz's office

The event Eyes on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, June 19^th is hosted by Prevent Blindness America and gives voice to vision and you can make your voice heard today! Join Eyes on America and simply email, call, tweet or visit your local lawmakers to make a difference! You can send an email directly from this website, find your local officials number here, or find their Twitter handle here. 

In addition to Eyes on Capitol Hill and Eyes on America, Prevent Blindness America also hosted the 2^nd annual Focus on Eye Health National Summit on Tuesday, June 18^th where they announced the new Cost of Vision Problems report and hosted speakers.

AMD: Awareness Makes a Difference

Prevent Blindness Texas has declared this week AMD: Awareness Makes a Difference Week with the hopes of educating the public on one of the nation’s leading eye diseases.

Many of our clients suffer from this eye disease; it is so common in fact, that more than 2 million Americans have AMD, of which over 115,000 live in Texas! AMD, or age-related macular degeneration, is an eye disease that causes central vision to deteriorate over time, which as you can imagine, makes simple, everyday tasks such as driving or reading extremely difficult. This eye disease is the leading cause of blindness in Americans age 50 and older. Though there is currently no cure for AMD, with early detection through regular eye exams and with treatment, your vision can still be preserved.

To learn more about AMD’s risk factors, symptoms and treatment, click here.

References:

Prevent Blindness America’s 2012 “Vision Problems in the U.S.” Report

Age-related Macular Degeneration

Prevent Blindness Texas Declares June 3-9 as “AMD: Awareness Makes a Difference Week” In Effort to Educate Public on Leading Eye Disease