Panelists: Education, awareness, partnership critical to improve access to eye care
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Increased access to eye care and prioritizing eye health can be accomplished through patient education, consumer awareness and industry partnerships, according to participants in a panel discussion held during Vision Expo West.
Vision Health Alliance is Vision Council’s new consumer awareness program, which has the “mission to make people understand that eye care is critical, and comprehensive eye exams are a critical part of overall health,” alliance executive director and panelist Jane Balek said.
The group oversaw the creation of emergency eye care kits during the show in partnership with Hilco Vision and also provided eye exams to local children in partnership with Eyecare4Kids.
“Over 500 million kids in the world and several million in the U.S. do not have access to eye care,” Joseph Carbone, optician and founder of Eyecare4Kids, said during the panel. “Eyecare4Kids hires optometrists to work in those areas to help us provide comprehensive eye exams.
Moderator Elizabeth Harness, of McDougall Group, said, “Many of the families that benefit from this program view eyeglasses as a luxury.”
“They decide whether to pay for rent, buy food or dress their children,” Carbone added.
“A lot of parents don’t know what to look for to assess their children’s vision,” panelist Millicent Knight, OD, FAAO, FAARM, senior vice president, Customer Development Group, Essilor, said. “It’s often seen where the child is squinting or has a behavior problem in school. We need to educate parents. Regular eye exams should start as early as possible.
“The InfantSee program is no charge and gets that good foundation into place,” she added. “It’s a travesty in this country that we don’t examine our children’s vision before they start school.”
“It’s about education, awareness and partnership,” Balek said. “That’s why we have our partnership with Hilco Vision. Essilor supported our previous initiative, Think About Your Eyes. Without industry support, we can’t do it.”
Panelist John Lakey, global head of marketing for Hilco Vision, said, “Advocacy is one of the things we need to have in the industry.”
Balek said when the Let’s Be Clear campaign was launched, Vision Health Alliance learned from consumer research that 95% of those surveyed said they valued their vision, but only 30% knew an eye exam was important.
“Compare that to people who said their teeth were important,” she said, “and 70% knew to get them checked every year. That’s why we call it Let’s Be Clear. You need a comprehensive eye exam to protect your eye health.”
“The problem with diseases like glaucoma is they don’t hurt, but if left unmanaged, you will lose your vision,” Knight said. “Education is so important, in addition to advocacy work. Every step of the exam that patient should know what you’re looking at and why. They should not leave without being pre-appointed.”
Knight said results from a survey conducted by EssilorLuxottica showed that many parents were concerned about the amount of time their children are spending on digital devices, gaming and e-schooling. However, only 25% of those parents said they made an appointment with the eye doctor.
Harness said she often hears people say they cannot afford eye care.
“You can find affordable eye care,” Balek said. “That shouldn’t be a barrier. Ophthalmology has different guidelines, so consumers get confused. The cost of an eye exam and a pair of glasses per day is miniscule.”
“People will pay for what they find value in,” Knight added.
Carbone said Eyecare4Kids is trying to build a larger panel of doctors to provide free exams and glasses in their offices.
“Every doctor I meet has a passion for what they do,” Balek said. “It’s hurtful to hear, ‘It’s too expensive.’ I think the coordination of the care and the information is so essential.”
The pandemic has also affected the delivery of patient care.
“We have to get patients to feel safe to get back into optometric offices,” Knight said. “Practices are using technology to minimize the amount of time the patient is in the space so doctors can spend the important time with the patients.”
“We are definitely seeing many patients with computer vision syndrome,” panelist and Nevada Optometric Association President Spencer Quinton, OD, said. “It’s intensified in all age groups. There’ one silver lining in there; parents are more concerned about their children’s eyes.”
“There’s another pandemic we should talk about,” Knight said. “Myopia. It’s mind-boggling, we know how that if we don’t do something now, by 2050 half of the world’s population will be myopic, and a billion of them will be highly myopic, putting them at risk of vision-threatening conditions.
“We’re understanding there’s more to myopia than correcting it,” she continued. “There’s a way to manage that now. Doctors have more tools. We must also reach out to nurses, teachers, physician assistants to educate them.”
“Everybody who touches that child needs to be educated – teachers, bus drivers,” Balek said. “Survey respondents have said if their primary care physician told me to get an eye exam every year, I would.”
“We’re talking about an awareness of how large the circle of care really is around a child,” Harness said.
Quinton said caregivers should be looking for children squinting, getting closer to things, rubbing their eyes, having headaches and eyestrain, walking into walls, eyes turning, reading below grade level, trouble in school.
“These could all be manifestations to ocular conditions,” he said.
Reference:
- Harness E, et al. Better access, brighter futures: Increasing access to early eye exams & prioritizing eye health in preventive health care. Presented at: Vision Expo West; Sept. 22-25, 2021; Las Vegas.
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