EyeMed’s Sponsorship of Think About Your Eyes Reinforces Its Commitment to Eye Health and Vision Wellness

Cincinnati, OH, March 19, 2010 – EyeMed Vision Care announced its participation in a groundbreaking new alliance in the vision care industry today.

As part of Luxottica, EyeMed has joined forces with Essilor and VSP Global to create the Think About Your Eyes Coalition, a multi-million dollar consumer education program designed to increase awareness of the importance of vision health and comprehensive eye exams.

“Eyecare professionals are the genesis for millions of Americans take care of their eyes and the coalition and its campaign is set to make healthy vision top of mind,” according to Liz DiGiandomenico, president of EyeMed Vision Care.

In addition to public education on the importance of regular eye care, Think About Your Eyes will focus on the role comprehensive eye exams play in monitoring overall health, including preventative benefits such as detection of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, glaucoma, cataracts, diabetes and other diseases.

The Coalition has developed a comprehensive media campaign that will launch in April of 2010 in nine key markets across the country, followed by additional markets as new Coalition members join our efforts. 

The campaign will consist of television, radio and Social Media components, including a dedicated Web site. EyeMed will also implement programs to make the campaign content available through our Client, Broker, Provider and Member communication channels.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 61 million adults in the United States are at high risk for serious vision loss, but only half visited an eye doctor in the past 12 months. Approximately 14 million individuals age 12+ have visual impairments that could be addressed 80% of the time with refractive correction.

The need for this kind of public education effort is profound and is a meaningful extension of EyeMed’s mission to improve quality of life through better vision care. We believe we can have a greater positive impact on public awareness by working together with our industry partners and inviting others to join us in this important effort. 

This campaign expands on the important work we do together everyday and we wanted to share this exciting news with you. We’ll keep you updated as Coalition plans progress, including opportunities for you to leverage the campaign content and call-to-action with your members.

To learn more about the Think About Your Eyes Coalition, log on to http://www.thinkaboutyoureyes.com/.  For more information about eye health and vision wellness, visit EyeMed’s Wellness 101.