For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 5, 2001
Save Your Vision Week, 2001
By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation
As part of our regular health routine, we
often overlook vision. Good vision affects how we work,
communicate, and learn. According to the Department of
Health and Human Services, about 80 million Americans suffer from
potentially blinding eye diseases, 3 million have low vision, and
200,000 more are severely visually impaired.
Visual impairment can strike at any
time. Some eye diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, can
develop and damage the eye without warning. Also, visual impairment
can develop more often in certain groups. For example, some
groups of Americans have a higher risk for glaucoma, including those
over the age of 60, African Americans over the age of 40, and people
who have a family history of the disease.
Visual impairment can also strike the future
of this country: our children. Infants and young
children are not immune to eye disorders. Amblyopia, poor vision in an
eye that did not develop normal sight during early childhood, causes
problems in very early life. Early vision screening is
important for our young people to ensure that their eyes receive
immediate treatment if problems are found. Also, myopia, or
nearsighted-ness, affects 15 percent of those entering high school.
Many occupations and forms of recreation can
present dangers to the eye. Eye protection is a necessity
when jobs create the possibility of eye injury. Wearing
protective eyewear when playing sports can cut down on eye injury by as
much as 90 percent, and wearing eye protection when working in the yard
can also reduce the number of serious eye injuries.
The best way to detect eye diseases and
disorders is through a dilated eye exam. Many eye problems
can be prevented or reversed with early detection and appropriate
intervention.
There are many other ways we can help reduce
vision disorders. We can make healthy lifestyle choices for
ourselves and our families, clinicians can emphasize prevention in
their practices, and scientists can pursue new treatments and
preven-tion strategies through research. Using both
traditional and innovative approaches, we can all work to make better
vision and vision protection an important part of our Nation=s public
health agenda.
The Congress, by joint resolution approved
December 30, 1963 (77 Stat. 629; 36 U.S.C. 138), has authorized and
requested the President to proclaim the first week in March of each
year as "Save Your Vision Week."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President
of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in
me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby
proclaim March 4 through March 10, 2001, as "Save Your Vision
Week." I urge all Americans to participate by making eye
care and eye safety an important part of their lives and to ensure that
dilated eye examinations are included in their regular health
maintenance programs. I invite eye care professionals, the
media, and all public and private organizations dedicated to preserving
eyesight to join in activities that will raise awareness of the
measures we can take to protect and sustain our vision.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my
hand
this fifth
day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-fifth.
GEORGE
W. BUSH
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