Raise awareness about diabetic eye disease

National Eye Institute Eye Health Connection banner featuring a smiling adult wearing glasses, a patient getting eye care from an eye care provider, and an optician holding up an adjustable trial frame.

November 2023

Dear NEHEP Partners,

November is National Diabetes Month! All types of diabetes raise the risk of eye problems like diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, and glaucoma. That’s why it’s important for everybody with diabetes to prioritize their eye health. If you’re looking to support eye health for the people with diabetes in your community, we’ve got you covered. Explore NEI and NEHEP partner resources about diabetes and the eyes — and join us in spreading the word about the importance of eye health for people with diabetes.

Now onto a more somber note: I wanted to share the sad news of Dr. Roy Cole’s passing on October 9. Roy was a great friend to NEHEP, applying his background as Director of Vision Program Development at the Lighthouse Guild and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Medical Center to his work as a member of the NEHEP Vision Rehabilitation workgroup. At the Lighthouse Guild, he worked on education and training programs for health care providers, with an emphasis on people with a visual impairment. He also provided vision rehabilitation clinical services. At Columbia, he trained ophthalmology residents on low vision rehabilitation. He was a dedicated NEHEP workgroup member, and we’ll miss him.

Best,

Maria Zacharias

Acting Director, National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP)

National Eye Institute

Get sharable NEI resources for National Diabetes Month

NEI has a wide variety of resources to help people with diabetes learn how to take care of their eyes during National Diabetes Month. You can get sharable infographics, videos, social media posts, and other outreach materials.

Explore NEI’s resources

An adult pricking their finger to check their blood sugar at home.

An adult putting a diabetes test strip into a blood glucose meter.

Share Hadley’s workshops for people with diabetes

Hadley’s Managing Diabetes workshop series features tips to help people with a visual impairment check their blood sugar and give themselves insulin with confidence. Get links to the workshop videos — or order large-print, audio, or braille versions by mail.

Check out the workshops

Vision loss due to diabetes can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety. Support your mental health by talking to a mental health professional or doctor, doing activities that bring you joy (like playing boardgames with loved ones), exercising (like doing yoga), connecting with others (like through a support group), or receiving vision rehabilitation. Made possible by funding from Regeneron, Science to Medicine, and VSP Vision.

Promote mental health with Prevent Blindness’s fact sheet

Mental health is a key part of overall health that’s important to consider while navigating diabetic eye disease. Prevent Blindness has created a fact sheet in English and Spanish with tips for prioritizing mental health — plus links to more resources on mental health, diabetic eye disease, insurance, financial assistance, and more.

Read the fact sheet

A woman reviewing health information with her health care professional.

Learn about diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in women

An online course from the International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (IJCAHPO) provides data on incidence, prevalence, and risk for diabetic retinopathy in women — as well as information about treatment options and pregnancy considerations.

Calendar of Events

Promotional graphic for the Diabetes and Your Eye Health: Advocating for Quality Eye Care webinar. Learn how to best advocate for equity in and quality of your diabetic eye care while navigating the health care system. Stevens Amendment: The Health and Wellness Program is supported by a total funding of $26,463,855 of which the DOL funds 90% or 23,817,469 and 10% or $2,646,386 is funded by non-federal sources. Closed captions available.

Share tips for advocating for quality eye care

NEI and the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, Inc. hosted a webinar featuring NEHEP Planning Group Member, Dr. Sherrol Reynolds. The session was called Diabetes and Your Eye Health: Advocating for Quality Eye Care — and covered how diabetes affects the eyes, tips for navigating health care, advocating for quality care, and more!

Watch the webinar recording

Other Events and Resources

Resource: The American Diabetes Association (ADA) offers free eye health continuing education for eye health professionals and primary care providers through the ADA Institute of Learning.

Resource: The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology’s short video series celebrates the development of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy, which is used to treat diabetic retinopathy.

Resource: A recent Hadley Present podcast episode features a conversation with the ADA’s Jessica Grogan on managing blood sugar with vision loss.

Resource: Prevent Blindness’s video — The ABCs of Diabetes to Protect Your Eye Health — highlights important information about eye health and vision for people with diabetes.

Resource: The National Alliance for Hispanic Health offers Let’s Prevent Diabetes/Prevengamos la diabetes, an educational program that covers disparities in prediabetes and diabetes among Hispanics/Latinos, as well as tips for healthy lifestyles.

Resource: The Older Individuals Who Are Blind Technical Assistance Center within the National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision offers Practical Information for Social Workers New to Interacting with Older Adults Experiencing Vision Impairment or Blindness, a self-paced continuing education course for social workers.

The Eye Health Connection is a newsletter developed with the input of NEHEP Partners and shared with the community of NEHEP’s 60+ partner organizations. The links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only, they do not constitute an endorsement by the National Eye Institute or its employees.

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