Optometry-Backed Vision Care for Kids Act Approved by ...( American Optometric Association Joi...),Health

American Optometric Association Joins Reps. Green and Pascrell to Ensure that No Child is Left Behind Due to an Undiagnosed or Untreated Vision

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In order to ensure that school-aged children are ready and able to learn, today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Optometric Association-backed Vision Care for Kids Act of 2007 (H.R. 507). According to the AOA, the voice of 34,000 frontline providers of eye and vision care in communities across America, the legislation recognizes the link between healthy vision and classroom learning and seeks to provide new Federal funding to expand the reach of children's vision programs enacted at the state level.

Originally introduced by Representatives Gene Green (D-TX); Bill Pascrell (D-NJ); Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL); Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Vito Fossella (R-NY), the Vision Care for Kids Act would establish a federal grant program focusing on treatment and designed to bolster children's vision initiatives in the states and encourage children's vision partnerships with non-profit entities. H.R. 507 directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to provide $65 million in grant funding to proven efforts to allow more children, particularly those under 9 years of age who are already known to be at-risk for vision problems, to receive comprehensive eye examinations and appropriate care from their local optometrist or other eye doctor. Grants would also go toward supporting public education and awareness efforts designed to promote early detection and treatment of vision.

"Good vision is critical to learning. This important legislation will improve vision care for children to better equip them to succeed in school and in life," Rep. Green said. "Together, with the support of the American Optometric Association, the American Academy o
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