See Now Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

For more information:

Prevent Blindness

Whitney Anderson

Phone: (800) 301-2020 ext. 105

Email address: [email protected]

 

Columbus, OH (Jan.  30, 2017) – Bradly D’Souza, a member of the Ohio Affiliate Prevent Blindness Board of Directors is calling on Congress to unlock eye care for 15 million Americans. The new effort from Prevent Blindness and See Now is asking Congress to commit $6.3 million toward preventing blindness, a problem that costs the United States $145 billion a year. Costs in Ohio alone are $5.4 billion annually.

See Now is a new global initiative created by The Fred Hollows Foundation, aimed at increasing awareness of eye health and mobilizing the public to end avoidable sight loss.

Unfortunately, many adults and children do not have access to eye care. Seven years ago, Prevent Blindness stepped in and provided 13-year-old Bradly with an eye exam and a new pair of glasses when his family could not meet the costs.

“Since receiving glasses I’ve had a completely different experience in life. I’ve been chosen for a youth scholarship award, been invited to the Nobel week in Stockholm, was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of Prevent Blindness, graduated college and started my first job,” said D’Souza. “The new glasses from Prevent Blindness came at a time in my young life when my family had nothing, and those glasses made all the difference to make me feel part of my community, take part in school and be with my friends.”

As part of the See Now campaign, Bradly’s story is featured in video testimony, along with other patient ambassadors from Pennsylvania and Texas, sharing their stories of how access to eye care has changed their lives.  Additionally, Prevent Blindness is urging the public to join the See Now campaign and commit to calling on Congress to increase funding.  The petition can be found at www.seenow.org.

“Fortunately, we were able to help provide Bradly with the help he needed to access quality eye care and put him on the path to a lifetime of success,” said Sherry Williams, President & CEO of the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness.  In fact, Bradly was so grateful for the positive impact that healthy vision had upon his educational success, he donated his first job paycheck to Prevent Blindness while still in high school.  “Sadly, there are thousands more that still need our help.  We ask the public to get involved by signing the See Now petition, and ask our nation’s leaders to provide the resources we need to save sight.”

For more information on Bradly’s story, or the Prevent Blindness/See Now initiative, please visit www.preventblindness.org or www.SeeNow.org, or call Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate at (801) 301-2020.

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 preventing blindness and preserving sight. We serve all 88 Ohio counties, providing direct services to more than 800,000 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.

 

 

See Now is a global campaign to increase awareness and drive public mobilization on ending avoidable blindness and vision impairment. Globally, there are 285 million people living with blindness and vision impairment and 4 out of 5 cases are preventable or curable. Visit www.seenow.org for more information.