PRIMARY EYECARE TO DONATE EYE EXAM FEES
TO GIVE SIGHT TO PEOPLE IN NEED
Local optometrists at Primary Eyecare will donate their eye examination fees on World Sight Day – Thursday October 9th – to help the estimated 300 million people who are blind or vision impaired simply because they do not have access to an eye exam and a pair of glasses.
The World Sight Day Challenge is organized by Optometry Giving Sight, which is the only global initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to “uncorrected refractive error”.
“Who better to ask to support this program than optometrists and their staff and those who are lucky enough to live in countries where eye care is easily accessible?” said Dr. Joe DiGirolamo. “That’s why we are planning a practice celebration throughout October. It’s an opportunity for our whole office team to support our International Charity of Choice and we hope that our patients will join us too.”
Last year, the first year for this initiative, hundreds of optometric practices participated in the Challenge raising more than $250,000, which is already funding projects that are providing vision care, local training and infrastructure support in Sri Lanka, East Africa, East Timor and South Africa. This year we expect to significantly increase the number of participants and dollars raised.
Dr. DiGirolamo said he was inspired by the story of John Moria, a 67-year-old subsistence farmer in East Timor, who is very myopic (near sighted). Having lost most of his family during the recent independence struggle, and with limited vision, it was increasingly difficult for John to tend to his crops. In a country with no social welfare system, this was a threat to his very survival. Today, John has regained his sight and his autonomy, thanks to “optometry” giving sight. His life was literally saved by a pair of glasses!
It is hard for us living here to grasp that just $5 can provide an eye exam and a pair of glasses in many developing countries, said Dr. DiGirolamo. And thanks to the support of industry, Optometry Giving Sight guarantees that 85% of all funds raised by optometrists and their patients go directly to programs that give sight to those in need.
For more information about Optometry Giving Sight and the World Sight Day Challenge visit www.givingsight.org
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About Optometry Giving Sight
Optometry Giving Sight is a joint initiative of the World Optometry Foundation, the International Centre for Eyecare Education and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. National industry sponsors include CIBA VISION, the Institute for Eye Research, Marchon, Vision Source!, Signet Armorlite, AllAboutVision.com and EyeVis Eye and Vision Research Institute. Optometry Giving Sight is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
About the World Sight Day
World Sight Day is an initiative of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight and is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO); the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and more than 80 non government organizations with the shared goal of eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020, in order to give all people in the world the right to sight. This year World Sight Day will be held on Thursday October 9th and focuses on the ageing eye, and vision impairment in older people.
About the World Sight Day Challenge
The WSDC is a major fundraising campaign coordinated by Optometry Giving Sight which is designed to raise funds for projects that provide vision care, local training and infrastructure support for people who are blind or vision impaired due to uncorrected refractive error.
Optometrists are invited to participate by:
- donating their eye exam fees on World Sight Day (or any other day in October); and/or
- becoming a regular monthly or annual donor on or before October 9; and then
- planning a practice celebration with staff and patients during October.
Posted by primaryeyecare2 