r By Brylee IversrHello! My name is Brylee Ivers and I am currently serving as Miss Salem and I wanted to educate those around me about the significance of my service platform based on vision screenings and eye care awareness.
There are 234 million people in the world that have some kind of vision impairment. These are staggering statistics. Our eyes are the most important of the five senses and the majority of people take their eyes and vision for granted. Many eye diseases do not have any symptoms. In fact, vision problems are invisible and often times go undetected. Eye doctors often are the first healthcare professionals to detect chronic diseases such as: high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer.
One in four school-aged children has some form of vision impairment. It is estimated that 80 percent of the learning a child does occurs through his or her eyes. When his or her vision is not functioning properly, their education and behavior can suffer.
Eighty percent of vision problems worldwide are avoidable and curable. Having poor vision personally has affected me since I was six years old. Not being able to see without corrective lenses has affected every aspect of my life. This is why I feel so passionate about this platform. Detecting eye and vision problems early will improve a person’s quality of life and generally will help them live longer lives.
During my reign as Miss Salem, my platform has turned into a passion. My platform is titled, “Our VISION is to SEE the future” based on vision screening and eye care awareness.
There are four aspects to my platform:r• Vision screenings: I have held a free vision screening for the children in Salem. I partnered with a local optometrist Dr. Hawkins and his team at Esplin Eye Center, who provided me with the equipment to conduct the screening and then reviewed the results of all of the children that were screened.r• Create awareness and importance: This was done by providing valuable eye care education in the Salem City newsletter that residents receive in their utility bill each month. I have written about topics such as how to protect your eyes, dry eye, and back-to-school screenings.r• Education in elementary schools: I presented in classrooms about the importance of eye care and vision screenings.r• Collection and donation of used eyewear: I have invited my community, as well as eye centers statewide. to donate used glasses to me and so far I have collected 1,857 pairs of reading, prescription, and reading glasses that I donated to Charity Vision and the Moran Eye Center to give to those in need!
To learn more about my platform, come to the Miss Salem pageant on April 20th at Salem Hills High School at 7 p.m. Or, you can even come watch me as I compete against 50+ other amazing women for the title of MISS UTAH! Tickets are anticipated to go on sale on May 1.
