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5 five Questions for…

R. Michael (Mike) Daley, a vision industry veteran for 40-plus years, has just been named president of the newly formed Foundation for Eye Health Awareness.

EB What is the Foundation for Eye Health Awareness?

MD The Foundation was created to increase the public's awareness about the importance of eye health through a nationwide messaging campaign that directs people to take better care of their eyes by getting an eye exam. It was formed as a result of last summer's Eye Health Summit, a first-of-its-kind event that drew together over 110 vision community representatives to begin the process of building a strong consensus among interested parties/ stakeholders on a public health/eye health message.

One of the first steps of the Foundation is to create this campaign, or find a way to modify an existing campaign to meet the Foundation needs.

EB Who is involved in the Foundation?

MD The Board of Directors has 11 members who represent different areas of the vision community, including eyecare professionals, retailers, managed care, and manufacturers, among others. Our goal is to include all members of the vision community who would like to be involved. We will continue our communication with the participants of the Eye Health Summit.

EB What is your role as president of the Foundation?

MD My role is to find the best ways to move forward the objectives created by the board as a result of the Summit.

This includes participation in the various subcommittees that are already created and managing day-to-day operations.

I will also be communicating regularly with attendees of the Eye Health Summit and will use my 40-plus years of building relationships in the vision community to raise funds and to support our efforts.

EB What's the Foundation's ultimate goal?

MD It is to raise awareness among the public about the importance of eye health as it relates to overall health. Many Americans have never had an eye exam and there are an estimated 11 million Americans with uncorrected vision problems ranging from refractive errors to sight-threatening eye diseases.

EB How do you communicate the aims and goals of the Foundation to consumers?

MD We will be focused primarily on getting people to see an eye doctor. This effort has to be undertaken on both national and grassroots levels to encourage behavior change, which is why it's important to have as many people as possible from the vision community involved. EB