News from the AOA's Blog

The School Readiness Summit–Focus on Vision –– a first-of-its-kind, broad-based national conference to ensure all American children enter school with vision adequate to meet the demands of the academic environment –– is set for April 11-12, 2011, in Washington, D.C. 

Thanks to HOYA Vision Care’s support of the Summit, the AOA is able to expand awareness for this important initiative and create new collaborations with other organizations on health care and school readiness. Read the rest of this entry ?

With the enactment of national health care overhaul legislation in March, the AOA is now closely monitoring the “implementation phase” of the new law which will extend over the next several years.  This week, a Federal agency announced that school-based health centers (SBHCs) have until September to begin applying for new Federal funding which they can use to meet the dramatically expanded operating objectives that have been set for them by Congress and the President.  This is important to Optometry and others in the eye health community because – at the urging of AOA – Congress included a provision in the overhaul bill to include vision health services in the care to be provided to tens of millions of school-aged children by SBHCs.  Given the time frame for funding decisions to be made at the local level, the AOA is providing background information and recommended steps that can be taken today by ODs who want to make vision health services more accessible to school-aged children in their communities.   Click here to learn more about SBHCs and to view a map of SBHCs nationwide.

URGENT OUTREACH OBJECTIVE:  It is recommended that affiliates and AOA members to take action now to maximize opportunities for ODs to further improve the vision health and learning potential for school-aged children in their communities.  These recommended actions, which follow-up on successful AOA advocacy efforts to ensure inclusion of vision health services in school-based health clinics,  are needed to further solidify the role of optometrists as leading community-based resources on eye health and vision care and to help children with undiagnosed and untreated vision problems overcome a broken system that has had no accountability for tracking children into care.  By strengthening contacts with local officials now, ODs can help ensure that SBHCs across the country will be able to offer OD-provided comprehensive eye exams to children who need them.  Read the rest of this entry ?

At left, Jerald Combs, O.D., chair of the AOA Federal Legislative Action and Keyperson Committee, and Barry Barresi, O.D., Ph.D., AOA executive director, join Missouri Optometric Association ODs to host Missouri Secretary of State and Candidate for U.S. Senate Robin Carnahan (D-Mo.), for an OD-only fundraising event in St. Louis.