January 2020

Dear NEHEP Partners, We hope your 2020 is off to a great start. We’re excited to share the first edition of our new and improved e-newsletter, the Eye Health Connection. Scroll down to see highlights, events, and opportunities to collaborate from us at the National Eye Institute (NEI) and our National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) partners! Best, Kristina Beaugh Savitske, MPH, CHES Director, National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP)

Our new look Last September, we celebrated the launch of our redesigned website. We love our new look and hope that you do, too! We updated our content, added features to make the site more accessible for everyone (including users with visual impairments), and made it easier than ever to find resources you can use to teach people in your community about how to protect their vision. Check out our resources for health educators

New eye care guideline for patients with diabetes The American Optometric Association (AOA) released its Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline: Eye Care of the Patient with Diabetes Mellitus, Second Edition . The guideline recommends 31 actions optometry doctors can take to improve care for patients with diabetes, including people with symptoms of diabetic eye disease who don’t know they have diabetes. Read the guideline

Doctor-patient conversations made easy with new glaucoma guide In recognition of Glaucoma Awareness Month, we created a guide to help people who were recently diagnosed with glaucoma have more productive conversations with their doctors. The guide includes questions for the doctor and prompts to help patients keep track of their glaucoma. Share this printable guide with people who have glaucoma and their doctors! Download the guide

Free patient resources on thyroid eye disease Thyroid eye disease (TED), sometimes called Graves' eye disease, is a progressive autoimmune disease that can cause significant vision loss over time. With support from Horizon Therapeutics, Prevent Blindness offers new educational resources on TED including information about risk factors, symptoms and treatment options. The resources include a free downloadable fact sheet and social media graphics. Check out the resources

Calendar of Events

February: Low Vision Awareness Month We’re working with Hadley, Lighthouse Guild, Prevent Blindness, and VisionServe Alliance during Low Vision Awareness Month to encourage people to share their stories about living with low vision. Starting Monday, February 17, join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter by using the hashtag #LowVisionLeaders! Follow NEI on Facebook

Other Events January, 2020: Glaucoma Awareness Month This year : Research to Prevent Blindness celebrates 60 years in 2020 This year : American Academy of Ophthalmology, EyeCare America program celebrates 35 years in 2020

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