January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month, an important reminder for at-risk adults to visit an eye doctor for a full, dilated exam. Saving Sight is celebrating by offering free healthy vision screenings for glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration to help identify people at high risk, including an event in St. Louis on Saturday, January 18 that is free and open to the public.
The Healthy Vision Screening will be held at the American Heart Association’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Health Fair and Luncheon at Sheraton City Center, 400 S. 14th St. Glaucoma screenings will be available from 8-11 a.m. Pre-registration for the event is required.
The event is intended to increase awareness of risk factors and warning signs in the African-American community. According to the National Eye Institute, African Americans over the age of 40 are at higher risk for glaucoma.
Using a non-contact tonometer, a Saving Sight technician will screen adults at the health fair for elevated eye pressure, and people who receive a high-pressure reading will be urged to visit an eye doctor for a vision exam and any necessary treatment to prevent vision loss.
According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness, accounting for 9-12 percent of all cases of blindness. Glaucoma causes vision loss when elevated eye pressure damages the optic nerve. In most cases, this vision loss is gradual and painless, often making the disease undetectable, which is why it is also known as the “sneak thief of sight.”
For this reason, screenings and regular eye exams are useful in identifying glaucoma so vision loss can be prevented.
Saving Sight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to change lives by saving sight. Founded in Columbia, Mo. in 1960, the organization introduced eye donation and the gift of sight to Missouri. Today, Saving Sight operates vision health programs that serve nearly 50,000 people worldwide each year, and its offices are located in Missouri, Kansas, and central Illinois.
For more information about the screening, please contact pr@saving-sight.org or Tamara Oberbeck, vision screening program manager, directly at 1-800-753-2265 x8518. For more information about the organization, please visit saving-sight.org.