The American Optometric Association has unveiled the campaign for its Save Your Vision Month observance in March, which promotes the importance of regular, comprehensive eye care from an optometrist.
Save Your Vision Month 2015 is focused on ways consumers can protect their vision in the 21st century, which is filled with digital device use, whether it be for school, work, play, or in-between.
The AOA emphasizes in the campaign that with the extensive use of technology in our day-to-day lives, it more important than ever for consumers to make smart eye care choices and to see an eye doctor for yearly comprehensive eye exams.
In fact, according to the AOA’s 2014 American Eye-Q survey, 55 percent of adults use computers, smartphones, tablets or other hand-held devices for five or more hours a day. And a separate AOA survey showed that 83 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 use an electronic device for more than three hours a day.
The AOA and its philanthropic charity, Optometry Cares-The AOA Foundation, encourage optometrists and their staff to participate in this educational and timely observance and offer several ways in which to do so.
How to participate in Save Your Vision Month
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- Celebrate the observance with a Save Your Vision Month promotional kit. The kits not only promote the profession of optometry and bring some “flair” to the practice, they educate patients on the importance of regularly visiting their eye doctor. Optometry Cares asks for a $25 donation for a kit, which includes wristbands, posters, balloons, a customizable press release and social media posts, and other materials to help promote Save Your Vision Month.
- Donate a percentage or day of eye exam fees or donate $2-$5 per exam or frame sold during the month of March.
- Make a donation to Optometry Cares-The AOA Foundation in support of Save Your Vision Month 2015 and select "Save Your Vision Month" under Program Designation.
All proceeds will help Optometry Cares’ mission to expand eye care awareness, education and research, as well as access to eye health and vision care, to everyone in the United States in order to enhance human performance and quality of life.
Proceeds will also support valuable Optometry Cares programs, such as: InfantSEE, Healthy Eyes Healthy People, VISION USA, Camp Courage: A Helen Keller Experience, Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief, Endowment and Scholarship Funds, National Optometry Hall of Fame and the Archives & Museum.
To participate in Save Your Vision Month and support Optometry Cares, doctors can fill out a sign-up form online. These forms can be emailed to foundation@aoa.org, faxed to 314.991.4101, or mailed to Attn: Optometry Cares, SYVM, 243 N. Lindbergh Blvd., Floor 1, St. Louis, MO 63141.
