Three quarters of cases of vision loss in Canada are preventable.
Tell the Canadian government to recommit to a national vision health plan today. Over 8 million Canadians are living with diseases that can lead to blindness — act now, their time is running out.
We need simple, equitable solutions for all Canadians and a special focus on youth, the elderly and other at-risk populations. Together, we can reduce our economic burden and save the sight of countless Canadians.
Including the costs of hospitals and day surgeries, services provided by ophthalmologists, optometrists or opticians, pharmaceuticals, eyewear and other health system expenditures
Due to reduced workforce participation, reduced productivity at work, additional time off work, loss of future earnings due to premature mortality and loss of
caregivers’ income.
Including out of pocket expenses on formal aged and disability care, aids, equipment and home modifications, and efficiency losses associated with the transfer of resources within the economy
Making eye health and rehabilitation services a population health priority requires meaningful federal support that includes:
Make equitable vision health for all Canadians a priority
Clinical Trials in Canada Grant Access to New Sight-Saving Innovations
“I’m visually-handicapped, but I don’t think about this every day. I try to make the most of my life.“
I’m very happy with my life, I volunteer for the Groupement des âgés du transport adapté des patriots, and I sing in a choir with visually-impaired people living with vision loss.
It wasn’t always this way, though. When I became officially blind at age 32, it changed my life completely. The life I had planned for myself completely disappeared. You need good eyes to be a mechanic.
By the age of 64, I’d given up hope of ever getting to benefit from any such innovations. But I was lucky, and I was chosen for a clinical trial study. Through this study, I had a sight-restoring operation.
After the operation, I could see things that I couldn’t before. At the hair salon, I noticed the barber’s pole, with it’s rotating blue, red, and white stripes. I could suddenly see the dark green of the grass, and the twinkling Christmas lights that I install outside every year.
I have 4 children and 6 grandchildren. My children didn’t inherit my disease, but 2 of my grandsons did.
This is part of why research is so important to me, and why I agreed to participate in the clinical study.
I do it for myself, and for my grandsons.
Pierre Langlois
Saint-Eustache, QC
Choroideremia
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Learn more about the organizations whose generous support have made this report possible
Address:
Fighting Blindness Canada
890 Yonge St., 12th Floor
Toronto, ON M4W 3P4
Website: www.fightingblindness.ca
Email: info@fightingblindness.ca
Toll-free: 1.800.461.3331
Telephone: 416.360.4200
Fax: 416.360.0060
