Essilor of America and Essilor Vision Foundation Celebrate World Sight Day
By Essilor News
Have you had an eye exam this year? Experts say children should have an eye exam before first grade and then every two years, and adults should get their eyes checked every one to two years. If it’s been awhile, let World Sight Day serve as a reminder to schedule an exam for you and your kids.
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October. This year’s event is on October 12 and is designed to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment, which is the number one disability in the world.
To help raise awareness, Essilor of America and Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF) are marking the day with two events.
Bringing Better Sight to Life on Kids’ Vision Day
On October 5, approximately 400 elementary school students from the Dallas and Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School Districts will visit Essilor’s corporate headquarters in Farmers Branch, Texas, for Kids’ Vision Day. Local optometrists and optometry students will perform vision exams and the students will select eyeglass frames. The exams and glasses will be provided to the students at no cost to their families.
Good vision is crucial for learning, as approximately 80 percent of what a child learns up to age 12 is through his or her eyes. In the United States, 25 percent of schoolchildren have a vision problem significant enough to affect learning.
Kids’ Vision Day will also include kid-friendly vision education, presented by Essilor’s Research & Development team.
Celebrating World Sight Day
On October 12, Essilor and Essilor Vision Foundation employees will visit George H. W. Bush Elementary School and Jerry R. Junkins Elementary School to deliver eyeglasses to students who attended Kids’ Vision Day. This will be followed by an event on the Essilor campus to celebrate the 10th anniversary of EVF, the public non-profit charity founded by Essilor of America with a mission to eliminate poor vision and its lifelong consequences.
Additionally, Essilor is mobilizing around its #putvisionfirst campaign globally to raise awareness of the importance of regular eye exams. The company is advocating for and educating people about the critical need for vision screening and appropriate eye care, citing statistics such as:
• 1 in 4 children in the U.S. have a vision problem significant enough to affect learning
• 1 in 2 adults in the U.S. need vision correction
• Only 55% of adults have had a comprehensive eye exam in the last two years
• 80% of all vision impairment can be prevented or cured.
For every person who visits the campaign website and pledges to get an eye exam, Essilor International will contribute $1 to Essilor Vision Foundation.