FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Collaboration Brings Awareness of Childhood Blindness Prevention To Spanish Communities
Los Angeles, Calif., (July 8, 2016)—Two organizations committed to ending childhood blindness and other eye diseases—Know The Glow® and Retinoblastoma International—have teamed up to boost awareness within LA’s Spanish-speaking communities
Know The Glow is a global campaign committed to spreading awareness about preventable childhood blindness, and Retinoblastoma International (RBI) is dedicated to fighting childhood eye cancer known as Retinoblastoma. Awareness of the white or golden-yellow eye glow, known as Leukocoria or “The Glow”, which is potentially indicative of up to 16 childhood eye diseases including Retinoblastoma, has spread online in recent years. However, Retinoblastoma International discovered a lack of information and materials readily available for Spanish-speaking populations.
This awareness gap can be resolved by simply arming parents with information on Leukocoria. Parental knowledge about Leukocoria is essential because 80 percent of the time, parents are the first to spot “The Glow” in photographs of their children. To bridge this awareness gap, RBI partnered with Know The Glow by providing grant funding to build Spanish-language awareness tools, which includes PSA videos, flyers and a microsite. The RBI-funded digital tools just launched, with the full rollout of the Spanish-language outreach program to follow.
“One of our primary goals is to help get the word out that good eye health and early eye exams for children are essential,” says Jody Uyanik, RBI Board President. “That’s why when we learned of the need for greater awareness among Spanish-speaking families, we chose Know the Glow for its effective approach and its quality materials.”
Know The Glow Co-Founder, Megan Webber, thanks RBI for spearheading the effort. “We are so thankful to the amazing team at RBI for the partnership and grant funding they’ve provided to bring this critical awareness message to a new population. No child should be at-risk of losing his or her vision because prevention information is not accessible in the language spoken within his or her home. With these new Spanish tools, we can help Spanish-speaking families save sight and Know The Glow.” To preview the translated microsite and translated tools or to learn more about detecting “The Glow”, visit www.knowtheglow.org. You can also learn more about Retinoblastoma and children’s eye cancer at www.retinoblastoma.net.
About Know The Glow:
Know The Glow is a global awareness campaign dedicated to the awareness of glow-related childhood eye diseases. Its mission includes the elimination of preventable childhood blindness by educating the general public and medical community on how to identify “The Glow” through simple flash photography. Megan Webber, Sandra Roderick and Lannette Turicchi founded Know The Glow after Webber’s son, Benjamin, was diagnosed and treated for one of the glow-related diseases known as Coats’ Disease. For more information, visit www.knowtheglow.org.
About Retinoblastoma International:
Retinoblastoma International (RBI) is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation started by a group of concerned parents and doctors in 1998. RBI is committed to research and educational projects that promote early detection and treatment of children’s eye cancer worldwide.
About “The Glow:”
Leukocoria (“The Glow”) is an abnormal red eye reflex, common to 16 potentially devastating childhood eye diseases and is the leading preventable cause of childhood blindness. Fortunately, “The Glow” is detectable through simple flash photography, enabling parents worldwide to seek diagnosis and treatment at the earliest stages of these sight- and life-threatening diseases.
About Retinoblastoma:
Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the retinal cells in the eye, affecting babies and young children from birth to the age of 5-6 typically. It is rare, resulting in about 300 new cases per year in the US and about 5,000-8,000 cases worldwide. Survival rates in the US are more than 80 percent, but remain at 50 percent globally due to lack of awareness and access to treatment in other countries.
Resources: Spanish-language Awareness Flyer
Spanish-language Awareness Brochure
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