Sight Awareness Week opened yesterday with a service at the Webster Memorial United Church in St Andrew, which was also used as a medium to encourage more Jamaicans to take better care of their eyesight.

Virginia Woods, executive director of the Jamaica Society for the Blind, reading a message from Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, encouraged all Jamaicans to learn more about eye-care and eye-safety and to take the necessary measures to ensure a lifetime of perfect vision.

“The annual observance of Sight Awareness Week reinforces the importance of proper eye-care and raises awareness about how to protect and prolong healthy vision,” the governor-general said.

He said it was important that partnerships are formed between the Society for the Blind, civic and community groups and eye-care professionals, as “these partnerships continue to play an important role in increasing awareness and challenging myths about vision care and treatment”.

The Society for the Blind was also encouraged to strengthen these partnerships with a view to intensifying research activities that will provide a wider range of prevention strategies, treatment and cure for persons affected by various diseases of the eye.

The week, he said, should also be used to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution made to society by those who are visually impaired or blind.

“I congratulate the society and extend my best wishes for a successful week of activities,” said the governor-general.

In an earlier interview with the Observer, Woods noted that the Society for the Blind had fallen on hard times as, in addition to its funds drying up, the organisation has also lost the support of a number of volunteers, forcing it now to pay for every service.

The Society receives a subvention from the Government as well as some private sector companies, but the bulk of its funding comes from fundraising and the implementation of projects.

“But we still need money for the day-to-day running of the organisation, because some months we can hardly find money to pay salaries,” she said.

The Society offers a wide range of services to both the sighted and the blind. It currently offers an eye-care programme, particularly in the schools, where people can get free eye tests done to detect any early signs of sight defects.

For those who are already blind, the Society puts them in touch with organisations that provide various services. They are also taught to use white canes, which enable them to be able to move around unassisted.

“The Society believes in integration of blind persons; we have to equip them to function as any normal person,” Woods explained.

Near 30 members of the Society were present at the service to launch the week’s activities, which will include a panel discussion on ‘Blindness and the Family’ today at the Saints Peter & Paul Church Hall on Old Hope Road; talks to students in various primary schools in Kingston; a public awareness exhibition; and a symposium on eye-care and blindness.

The week’s activities, being observed under the theme, ‘Increasing Awareness, Challenging the Myths’, will end with a Domino Tournament on Saturday, June 2 at the offices of the Jamaica Society for the Blind and will be open to members of the public.

The National Culture group, a choir made up of members of the Jamaica Society for the Blind, entertained the congregation yesterday with a fantastic rendition of a medley of old Jamaican gospel music.