AOA, CooperVision partner to advance new standard of care for children with myopia
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Key takeaways:
- The Myopia Collective will be led by optometry professionals who will receive specialized training and lead legislative and advocacy efforts.
- Applications to become a member will be accepted through May 17.
The American Optometric Association and CooperVision have partnered to launch The Myopia Collective, which aims to elevate the standard of care for children with myopia through comprehensive treatment, rather than just correction.
“The AOA announced the Call for National Pediatric Eye Health and Vision Mobilization in 2023 to corral the profession, industry, stakeholders and the public at large to identify solutions to close the gap for children’s access to comprehensive and preventive eye health and vision care in America,” Jacquie M. Bowen, OD, AOA vice president, told Healio. “The Myopia Collective, and this first-of-its-kind partnership with CooperVision, is an important step in addressing this challenge.”
According to a CooperVision press release, The Myopia Collective will be led by change agents who will receive specialized training in myopia management and also lead legislative and community advocacy efforts. One to two agents will be assigned to each U.S. state and several territories to ensure full representation.
“Disrupting the status quo and establishing a new standard of care for children with myopia is a monumental task, one that requires collective effort,” Michele Andrews, OD, CooperVision’s vice president of professional and government affairs in the Americas, said in the release. “The AOA’s full and active participation in The Myopia Collective alongside CooperVision is an unmistakable sign of how critical this issue is to the eye health and vision care for Americans both today and in the decades to come.”
Change agents will attend an educational workshop in September in Chicago, the first of many opportunities to network and collaborate with professionals who share an interest in integrating myopia management into their practices. Members of the collective also will have access to educational opportunities and resources.
Optometrists and others in the profession are encouraged to join The Myopia Collective by submitting an online application by May 17. The inaugural cohort of change agents will be announced at Optometry’s Meeting, June 19-22, in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Through this initiative, we are positioning doctors of optometry to be advanced change agents in myopia care in their communities and catalysts of change in the overall, long-term standard of eye health and vision care for children,” Bowen told Healio.
Reference:
- Become a change agent in The Myopia Collective. https://karawebb.wufoo.com/forms/p6wmcqn1crdzdp/. Accessed April 24, 2024.
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