Leaders in Eye Health to Host First EverOregon Children’s Vision Summit
CHICAGO (Sept. 9, 2011)– Because one in four school-age children have some form of vision problem, leading vision and eye health groups are coming together on Friday, Sept. 16, 2011 to hold the first “Oregon Children’s Vision Summit” at the Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Ore. Representatives from The Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation, Optician’s Association of Oregon and the Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH), and host Prevent Blindness America will gather to share and discuss children’s vision screening and eye care in the State of Oregon and Southwest Washington. Funds for the program have been provided by Kaiser Permanente and Legacy Hospital to support this event for the purpose of coordinating and maximizing services for children’s eye health.
The main objectives of the summit are to:
- Assist participants in understanding current vision screening practices and implementation throughout the state
- Discuss participant practices in the “continuum of care” of children’s eye health
- Outline and implement a plan to assist organizations in coordinating and strengthening existing vision screening activities
- Gain support for future development of a joint Oregon children’s vision health infrastructure to promote and ensure a continuum of eye care for young children within the healthcare delivery system
“In order to give our children the opportunity to succeed in the classroom and beyond, we must ensure that they are seeing clearly,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America. “It is our hope that by bringing together leading experts in the field of vision and eye health we can combine our efforts to create the best strategies and programs to put our kids on a path to a lifetime of healthy vision.”
In June of 2010, Prevent Blindness America established the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health in order to provide leadership and technical assistance around early detection and eye health education and promotion across the country. The program was made possible by a multi-year cooperative agreement with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, part of the Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Oregon Children’s Vision Summit is modeled after the work of the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health.
For more information on the Oregon Children’s Vision Summit, the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health, or children’s vision and eye health, please call Prevent Blindness America at (800) 331-2020.
Download the Oregon Children's Vision Summit press release.
