BALTIMORE—Versant Health, a leading national managed eye health and vision plan group, announced that it has designated December as Gift of Sight Month. The vision care company noted that it had decided to establish the “holiday” after a Vision Wellness Study found that just 51 percent of people saw an eye doctor regularly. The same study also noted that 39 percent of consumers cited cost and/or affordability as the reason why household members do not see an eye doctor as often as they would like to.

As part of the program, Versant Health said it will disseminate educational information on protecting eyes and vision, work with non-profits to improve access to care, and provides tips and resources for promoting healthy eyes and vision in individual communities.

Gift of Sight Month will be a month-long holiday dedicated to helping Americans enjoy the wonders of sight through healthy eyes and vision, the announcement noted, and it is dedicated to addressing these issues through both education and action. Data shows that routine eye exams not only protect people from devastating eye diseases, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, but also may detect some of the other health conditions plaguing Americans, including diabetes, heart disease and even dementia, according to Versant Health

The Gift of Sight Month initiative will be a way to advocate for eye exams as a low-cost, highly effective form of preventive medicine. It focuses on the connection between eye health, overall health, and wellness, with the eye exam being the crux to this intersection, the announcement noted.

For more information about Gift of Sight Month and ways you can celebrate Gift of Sight Month, visit https://versanthealth.com/gift-of-sight-month/.