PBA and affliliates to advocate in DC

Prevent Blindness America and other Prevent Blindness affiliates in Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Iowa, Illinois and Washington are sending delegates to meet with our nation’s leaders to educate them on the need to support critical vision-related programs and appropriations.  

Their goals are to ask Congress to:

• Provide $5 million in FY 2011 for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vision Health Initiative.
• Allocate $1.2 million in FY 2011 to support the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s National Universal Vision Screening for Young Children’s Coordinating Center.
• Appropriate $730 million in FY 2011 to the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant.
• Support increased FY 2011 funding for the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

Prevent Blindness America has been deeply involved in advocacy work for more than 100 years. Prevent Blindness America and its network of affiliates continue to work with federal and state government representatives to keep vision and eye health a top priority.

All Senators and Representatives are invited to join the Congressional Vision Caucus (CVC). This caucus is a bipartisan, bicameral group of Members of Congress dedicated to strengthening and stimulating a national dialogue on the importance of vision health. The CVC is co-chaired by Representatives Gene Green (D-TX), David Price (D-NC), Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).  A reception for the Congressional Vision Caucus will be held on March 11, sponsored by Pfizer, Inc. and Transitions Optical, Inc.   

For more information on Prevent Blindness America and its advocacy initiatives, please call 1-800-331-2020 or visit preventblindness.org.

For more information on Prevent Blindness Georgia, call www.pbga.org or call 404-266-2020.

If you had AMD, how would you see?

Last year, I retweeted a link to this video from @Carepathways, on Twitter. Since February is AMD month, we want to share this video again and educate people on this eye disease.

Portrait painter Adam Hahn of London, England, decided to find out what people with AMD saw. Hahn started the project in memory of his grandmother, who also had AMD. The portraits are wholly or partially blurred, and most are in a palette of black, white and grays, perhaps to indicate the deterioration of color vision that many people with AMD also experience.

He painted portraits of people with AMD, and before he started each one, he talked to the subjects about their vision. The paintings are trying to show how each person sees him- or herself with the partial sight they have.

We offer a free educational online resource, “The AMD Learning Center.” For more information about AMD and other blinding eye diseases, please visit www.pbga.org or call 404-266-2020 or 800-477-4448.

Information from this post courtesy of allaboutvision.com.

Age Related Macular Degeneration. Facts you should know

More than 2 million Americans, ages 50 and older, have AMD. Prevent Blindness America’s 2007 research study, “The Economic Impact of Vision Problems” states that AMD costs the U.S. economy $570 million every year in direct medical costs.  

AMD is characterized by loss of central vision, usually in both eyes. The person may experience a dark or empty spot in the center of their vision, distorted, wavy vertical lines or blurry text. Here

• According to the AMD Alliance International 2008 survey, 11 percent of respondents said that they knew AMD very well, 12 percent indicated they know a fair amount, 25 percent know just a little bit about AMD, 23 percent have heard of AMD but know nothing about it, and 29 percent said they had never heard of AMD.
• The same survey found that, for those who admitted to not receiving eye exams frequently, cost and not having problems with their vision were the main reasons for not getting appropriate care. (Get a free eye exam).
• AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the Western world and third-most common cause around the world. If left untreated, the majority of eyes affected with wet AMD will become functionally blind within two years.

People with AMD are more than three times as likely to suffer from depression than the general population. (AMD Alliance International.)

• Smokers are up to four times more likely than nonsmokers to develop AMD  and The World Health Organization names smoking as the only modifiable risk factor for AMD.
• AMD may account for up to 30 percent of all bilateral blindness among Caucasian Americans.

We offer a free educational online resource, “The AMD Learning Center” at www.preventblindness.org/amd. For more information about AMD and other blinding eye diseases, please visit www.pbga.org or call 404-266-2020 or 800-477-4448.

More Research Shows Diets Rich in Nutrients Can Save Sight

A diet filled with green leafy vegetables is good for the waistline. It’s also beneficial to your eyes.  Diets rich in certain antioxidants, including lutein (spinach, kale, collard greens, corn, egg yolks, broccoli, green beans, green peas, brussel sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, kiwi and honeydew melon) and zeaxanthin can help protect the eyes against age-related macular degeneration, a potentially blinding eye disease for which there is no cure.

New research shows that AMD is in part a manifestation of a lutein and zeaxanthin deficiency in the eye.

In addition, a study by the National Eye Institute (NEI) suggests that pharmacological-level doses of zinc, vitamins C and E, and beta carotene may help slow the progression of AMD. The benefits of the nutrients were seen only in people who were at high risk of developing advanced AMD, those with intermediate AMD in one or both eyes, and those with advanced AMD in one eye only.

To maintain healthy eyes and lower the risk of eye disease, PBGA recommends that you:

• Stop smoking
• Eat healthy foods
• Stay active
• Control your blood pressure
• Protect your eyes from the sun

Visit preventblindness.org/amd for more information on AMD.

PBGA on a mini press tour today!

  

Today, Jenny Pomeroy, PBGA’s CEO, and Barbara Myers, director of community education and advocacy, are on a mission to educate Georgians about Glaucoma. Joining them is glaucoma advocate, Deanna Middleton (you can read her story here). 

January is Glaucoma month and Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world and the leading cause of blindness in African-American and Hispanic populations in the United States. 

Jenny and Deanna will be giving interviews in Cordele, Albany and Macon, GA. See them on: 

• WSST-TV in Cordele, GA  at 11:45 a.m.
• WALB- TV in ALbany, GA  at 2 p.m
• WGXA-TV in Macon, GA  around 4:30 p.m.

Prevent Blindness Georgia offers a variety of fact sheets and brochures including a glaucoma “Eye Q” quiz, a glaucoma 17-point checklist and a guide for people who have been diagnosed with the disease.  Materials on glaucoma are available in both English and Spanish by calling 404-266-2020 or by visiting www.pbga.org.

Glaucoma, Leading Cause of Blindness, Expected to Increase as We Age

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world and the leading cause of blindness in African-American and Hispanic populations in the United States.

In Georgia alone, there are more than 61,000 residents over 40 who have the disease.*  As a person ages, the risk for developing glaucoma increases.  A new report estimates that Americans will live eight years longer than projected, meaning an increase in costs for Medicare, Social Security and other government programs. Today, glaucoma costs the U.S. economy $2.86 billion every year in direct medical costs.

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes loss of sight by damaging a part of the eye called the optic nerve. This nerve sends information from the eyes to the brain. When the optic nerve is damaged, peripheral vision begins to diminish.  If left untreated, over time, glaucoma may also damage central vision. Unfortunately, once vision is lost to glaucoma, it cannot be restored.  Vision loss can be lessened, however, if glaucoma is detected and treated early.

Besides age, other risk factors include sex and race.  Glaucoma is more common in women, but by age 65, the prevalence of glaucoma becomes more comparable between the sexes.  Hispanic, Caucasian and African American populations are more susceptible to open angle glaucoma while acute angle-closure is more common in certain Asian populations and Americans of Asian descent.**

Prevent Blindness Georgia offers a variety of fact sheets and brochures including a glaucoma “Eye Q” quiz, a glaucoma 17-point checklist and a guide for people who have been diagnosed with the disease.  Materials on glaucoma are available in both English and Spanish by calling 404-266-2020 or by visiting www.pbga.org.

*according to a study by Prevent Blindness America and the National Eye Institute (NEI)

**according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation

Glaucoma affects African-Americans more than any other race

A few years ago, Deanna Middleton began wondering why her eyes were always red. The Lithonia resident asked her optician about it during her routine annual eye exam, thinking maybe it was allergies.

It wasn’t.

She learned that she had glaucoma, an eye disease commonly believed to strike only the elderly.

“Just the thought of it was unnerving,” Middleton, 40, recalled this week. “I do have some nerve damage, but my blessing is that it was caught early.”

This month, which is observed as National Glaucoma Awareness Month, Middleton and other activists are spreading the message of early detection of the disease that afflicts nearly 2.3 million Americans age 40 and older, or about 2 percent of that population.

A 2008 Prevent Blindness America report says that everyone, young to old, is at risk, but that African-Americans develop glaucoma six to eight times more often than Caucasians.

Glaucoma also often occurs earlier in life for African-Americans, who have a greater chance of going blind from the disease than other ethnic groups.

Even though there is no cure for glaucoma, with early detection and treatment, medication can slow the progression of the disease. The most important message is to get a regular dilated eye exam … and if you’re on medication for glaucoma, don’t stop taking it.

Beyond age and race, other risk factors include having a parent or sibling who has glaucoma, severe nearsightedness, being diabetic, having had eye surgery or an eye injury, and extended use of steroids.

Glaucoma causes loss of sight by damaging the optic nerve. When this happens, peripheral vision begins to diminish. If left untreated over time, glaucoma also may damage central vision.

In the early stages, glaucoma has no symptoms, no noticeable vision loss and no pain, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation.

It’s called the “sneak thief of sight” because usually the eye has been permanently damaged by the time symptoms appear. Once vision is lost to glaucoma, it cannot be restored. But vision loss can be lessened if glaucoma is treated early, Prevent Blindness Georgia says.

Middleton, a first-grade teacher at Covington’s Ficquett Elementary School, is thankful to still have her peripheral vision. She said she sees normally, with contacts. She has become an advocate for eye exams, persuading her three brothers to get tested, and hopes to be trained to conduct glaucoma screenings.

She also has encouraging words for glaucoma patients.

Those concerned about the cost of their medication should look for glaucoma studies they can join, Middleton said. Some provide free medication and free eye exams.

“I’m often the youngest person in the studies,” she said.

In the meantime, she faithfully uses eye drops each night to treat her glaucoma, hoping to prevent further damage to her eyes.

For more information, call Prevent Blindness Georgia at 404-266-2020 or visit www.pbga.org.

Information provided by Donna Williams Lewis of Crossroad News.

NPR’s investigative report on Myopia

NPR’s Morning Edition aired an investigative report on Myopia and its growth in America.

Did you know that the percentage of Americans who are nearsighted has gone way up in 30 years? That’s according to a study published last month in the Archives of Ophthalmology. Susan Vitale, an epidemiologist at the National Eye Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and her co-authors looked at a national survey that gave vision tests to Americans in the early 1970s. It was then repeated with a similar group of people 30 years later.

“The prevalence of myopia, or nearsightedness, in people age 12 to 54 went from 25 percent to 41.6 percent, so that’s about a 66 percent increase.”

The question is: Why? Genetics — or heredity — is by far the main thing that determines who becomes nearsighted. But then there’s what scientists like Vitale call near-work. That’s the things you do close up with your eyes, like reading or watching television or playing video games.

The cornea and lens are responsible for focusing light on the retina. Vision problems are most often the result of an imperfectly shaped eyeball, cornea or lens that prevents light from being properly focused within the eye.

“Kepler wrote about it, about 400 years ago, that he thought his nearsightedness was due to his intense study of astronomical tables and so forth,” says Dr. Don Mutti, of the College of Optometry at the Ohio State University.

Mutti is a kind of detective of myopia. Like other scientists researching this, he too suspected that after genetics, things like reading were probably a big cause.

For the past 20 years, Mutti has followed a group — from childhood to adulthood — to see who develops myopia. He found something significant: Time spent outdoors during childhood was important.

So that’s another mystery. Why, does spending time outdoors make a difference?

For the complete story, click here.

For more information on NPR’s  Morning Edition, click here. For more information on Prevent Blindness Georgia, visit www.pbga.org.

Give a day. Get a Disney day.

PBGA is excited to participate in

Give a day to PBGA. Get a Disney Day.

Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.

To participate, view the PBGA volunteer opportunities and sign up on the PBGA Volunteer Sign Up.

For more information, visit www.pbga.org.

PBGA board member named one of the top execs to watch in 2010

In an article on serviceworld.com, Bart Foster, founder and CEO of SoloHealth™ and PBGA board member, was named as one of the top five executives to watch in the self service industry.

EyeSite, a service of SoloHealth, is a free self-service vision test kiosk that allows consumers to quickly have their vision checked and encourages them to make an appointment with an eye doctor for a full exam.

SoloHealth shares a passion with PBGA to raise awareness about the importance of eye exams and proper health care.

For more information on EyeSite and SoloHealth, visit www.solo-health.com. For more information on eye diseases, proper eye care and eye health or to schedule an eye exam, visit www.pbga.org or call 404.266.2020.