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Show jjauctea sacrament meeting ana . . About 800.000 Americans are going blind and don't know it; and 53.000 school children have such poor siaht that they are unable even to read this page Hi 11 J It UJtJ I'zSZH-vfR' ASS nf m&m'nt 7 l::.v.:: : I J :v:-:::-:v.v .vv;.V::. little nT ISN'T VERY likely to happen, of course, but just suppose someone offered of-fered you a blank check for your yea. Would you fill out the check? And if you did, how much money would you want for a life of darkness? Without a doubt, some people wouldn't trade their eyes for a sum equal to the national na-tional debt. And for those who did sell their light, the price would come awfully high to the bidder. Nevertheless, in our day-in, day-out lives, many of us hold sight as a very cheap com modity. For example, have you had your eyes checked recently? If you own a car, you've probably had a mechanic examine h at least once during the past 12 months. Rut what is the price you paid for your car compared to the price you would place in your eyes if you could fill in that blank Seek? Moreover, if you don't take care of your automobile, your worst fate is an extra-large extra-large bill from the garage. If you don't take proper care of your eyes, the result may be life-long darkness. Each week blindness descends in 420 American homes. The National Society for the Prevention of Blindness has discovered that from 50 to 75 per cent of all these cases of blindness could be prevented by proper use of the knowledge which medical science now possesses , . . and which is passed on to you on this page. Sight conservation should begin with the children. Has your child had a visual checkup check-up recently? He should have one periodically period-ically for this reason: one of every four American children is suffering from some type of eye defect, but nothing is done to correct the condition. In most cases the child doesn't complain, and parents assume his eyes are all right It has also been found that many children who come home with poor report cards are plagued by poor vision rather than a poor L Q. It isn't surprising, because 85 per cent of what we learn comes through our vision; if a child's sight i poor, his ability to learn is also going to be poor. Adults, of course, need their tight just at much as youngsters. Men and women over 40 should be especially punctual about having periodic eye checks. It's after 40 that such eye diseases as glaucoma (pronounced (pro-nounced glaw-kohma) and cataract strike; these two diseases are the main reasons why the number of adult blind in America is increasing at the rate of 4,800 a year. But no matter what your age, if you don't see well; if you notice spots before your eyes, halos or rainbows around lights; if pour eyes or eyelids are inflamed or .sore take no chances. See your eye doctor at once. Moat frequently, accidenta of the eyee are caused by unsupervised play or (porta with pointed items. LEALIZING THESE introductory facts, let us next outline various important suggestions sug-gestions regarding the extent of eye troubles in the U. S., their causes, and some truths which will help you to protect your eyes. 800,000 BLIND An estimated 800,000 American are slowly slow-ly going blind and do not know it These men and women are suffering from glaucoma, an eye disease which usually strikes after 40, reports D, Franklin M. Foote, executive director of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness. This disease, he says, begins by destroying destroy-ing side vision, gradually workirg around to blot out the front or central sight of its victims. Glaucoma is very difficult to diagnose diag-nose in the initial stages, says Dr. Foote, As a result, a person may be "almost blind before he is aware of the disease. "If discovered early," declares Dr. Foote, 'glaucoma can usually be checked, and whatever sight remains can be saved." W YOUR EYE! Did you know that the favorite resting place for foreign object in the eye is under the upper lid? To remove cinder from your eye, lift the upper lid and pull it down over the lower lid. The tears will usually wash the object out Whatever you do, don't ever try to rub it out You may scratch the front of your eye, causing infection that might result in damaged vision. If a foreign object ob-ject cannot be washed out easily, consult physcian who can do the job safely. more BOYS According to the nursery jingle, little boys are made of "sticks and stones" while little girls are composed almost entirely of "sugar and spice." Although doubtful biologically, bio-logically, that hoary nursery rhyme contains con-tains more truth than fiction as far as eye accidents are concerned. With sticks, stones and everything else they can lay their hands on, little boys manage man-age to injure their eyes about three times as often as their sisters. All told, there are, about 85,000 eye accidents acci-dents a year among American school children. chil-dren. More than 1,000 of these accidents are so serious that the child loses the sight of an eye. WON'T WEAR CUT No matter how much you use your eyes, you can't "wear them out," provided: your eyes are in good health, you use them correctly, cor-rectly, you wear properly fitting glasses if you need them, and you have good lighting. BODY HEALTH Good body health means good eye health. For example, a lack of vitamin A in the body will cause night blindness an inability inabil-ity to see clearly in the dark. This and other vitamin deficiencies weaken vision, and glasses won't help a bit What's needed is a more nutritional diet to restore good body health, and hence good eye health. SPECIAL CLASSES The tight of an estimated 53,000 American Ameri-can school children is so poor that they cannot can-not read this page. About 8,000 of these children are now in special sight-saving classes. In these classes, the children use books and other reading matter printed in large-sized large-sized type, thus conserving whatever sight they have. They only attend these classes for work requiring close use of the eyes; for other activities, they join their school mates who have normal vision. At present, there are over 600 sight-saving classes in the U.S., but mostly in large cities. As a result, there are still about 45,000 children mostly in rural areas who are unable to attend a sight-saving class. PREVENTION The 991 members of the Wise Owl Club workers who saved themselves from partial par-tial or complete blindness because they remembered re-membered to wear safety glasses when an accident occurred have also saved their employers $3,260,000 in compensation payments pay-ments alone during the past three years. Any worker by proving that his goggles saved his sight can become a Wise Owl Club member. Stressing the need for tye safety, the National Society for the Prevention Preven-tion of Blindness sponsor of the WOC points out that 300,000 eye injuries a yeat occur in U.S. plants. By becoming tight conscious, many companies com-panies are also increasing production. A complete sight conservation program in-:luding in-:luding better vision testing and better lighting can increase production by as much as 25 per cent. . In a recent survey of a number of small industrial plants it was found that the vision cf 40 per cent of the employeees did not meet the minimum standards necessary for their jobs. CROSSED EYES If the eyet of your baby teem to "float" during the first six months or to, don't become be-come alarmed that he it going to be crosseyed. cross-eyed. However, if they continue to turn in or out after that time, consult an ej. If a child is cross-eved, the eves n be straightened, but treatment J started early. 5 HEN IT IS recognized. a W. viously that more than half of all w :an be prevented, it becomes the t( bility of every American to learn tj can safeguard vision. Here, to sura is how blindness may be prevented: I 1. By regular eye examination hi children. One out of every four American sters need eye care. All told, tk 5,500,000 school children with job.. if eye defect Examinations should be periodically during the child's school J 'J" There are also 53,000 Americas J y sters who have such poor eyes tk' d cannot read the standard school terjr '.e At present, 8,000 of these children jt 'M ipecial sight-saving classes where fifl. books printed in large-size type, r) as other special reading equipme;'' if there are still an estimated 45,000 cw ii who need special education method:; f of them live in rural areas. eT 2. By guarding against accidents: v"-1 A recent study shows that sorae eye accidents occur yearly among Jb school children. About 1,000 of thc f ( dents are so serious that the child ks , sight of one or both eyes. Boys inji' eyes about three times as often as gil' children in grades seven through A 1 up the highest eye-accident toll. It 4 occur most frequently during play or (67 of the total). Most of these: when the play is unsupervised. 3. By taking proper care ol the if Eyes that are free from disease w2 "wear out" from too much use. Bet cinders and other sharp objects in t) If a cinder will not wash out at should be removed by a physician do the job properly. I 4. By periodic eye examinational tally after 40: Since glaucoma and cataract ' body ailments such as diabetes andj vascular diseases which affect the strike most frequently in later Hi person over 40 should visit his tyt at least every two years for a cl Some 800,000 Americans have I and don't know it because the earl; tims of the disease are vague and ' non-existent. j 5. By helping to support sight-w tion efforts: If an estimated 110,000 people be saved from needless blindnen the next decade, there must be i intensified campaign of education, must also be a stepped-up progran search into the causes of blindnf more study on better methods for ' the sight-robbing diseases. 1,1 t. Blindness prevention is a job f one the parent the teacher, the j the businessman as well as the dof gr ( nurse, and the public health office-'nv e: teel c ClaucoiAa and cataract m'' hit eyea of people over 4() old. Examinations are recomr "Symphony p'-'aWirMd of ' Huntington were for -"JT II f ? |