Sight awareness helps educate millions

Pinellas Park, FL-Transitions Optical's traveling Eye Didn't Know That! exhibit helped inform more than 170,000 consumers about healthy sight before recently concluding its North American tour.

"We're looking forward to building on the program in 2006 by adding to the resources on the Web site and expanding the school program, creating even more opportunities for eye-care professional involvement," said Grady Lenski, commercial strategy and operations director, Transitions Optical.

Eye Didn't Know That! visited 12 science centers during 2005. News stories about the exhibit were viewed or read a reported 100 million times throughout the year. Each stop on the tour was preceded by a trade event, during which eye-care professionals had the opportunity for a preview of the exhibit and to learn more about all the resources available from Transitions. More than 1,600 professionals attended a tour event, with more than half indicating interest in participating in the program.

In another sight education move, Transitions Optical has partnered with Soderberg Ophthalmic Services to introduce Healthy Sight Counseling to nearly 100 doctors.

The program kickoff was marked with a seminar in Minneapolis presented by Transitions Optical Medical director Susan Stenson, MD, FACS. The COPE-approved presentation covered the importance of an integrated approach to eye care that promotes healthy sight through customized vision correction, maintenance, preventive eye care, and heightened practitioner and patient awareness.