[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4232]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       EYE DONOR AWARENESS MONTH

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, March 2012 marks the 29th annual 
National Eye Donor Month--a month devoted to honoring eye donors and 
corneal recipients, and increasing awareness of the need for eye 
donations.
  Since President Ronald Reagan declared the first National Eye Donor 
Month in 1983, the Eye Bank Association of America, EBAA, and its 97-
member eyebanks have used National Eye Donor Month to educate the 
general public about the donors and their families who provide life-
changing corneal transplants for over 50,000 people annually.
  Of the EBAA's 97-member eyebanks, four are located in Ohio, and they 
possess a deep-rooted commitment to restoring sight by providing 
corneas for sight-saving transplant procedures. In 2010, charitable eye 
donations made by Ohio residents allowed our State eyebanks to provide 
more than 1,000 corneas to help their friends and neighbors regain 
sight, and an additional 1,000 eyes and corneas for additional surgical 
procedures, as well as for research and educational purposes.
  These selfless efforts have not gone unnoticed, changing the lives of 
thousands of Ohioans through the selfless gifts of donors and their 
families.
  The Central Ohio Lions Eye Bank in Columbus, serving 45 counties, has 
made possible over 12,000 corneal transplants since 1973.
  In the past 10 years, the Cincinnati Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, 
located in the southern part of our State, gave the gift of sight to 
nearly 6,300 individuals through transplantation.
  In northern Ohio, the Cleveland Eye Bank has provided corneas for 
over 20,000 cornea transplants since its founding in 1958.
  Lions Eye Bank of West Central Ohio, LEBWCO, in Dayton has provided 
high-quality ocular tissue to surgeons and patients since 1982 and 
serves more than 1 million people in nine counties. LEBWCO is dedicated 
to making the gift of sight a reality for the Dayton community and all 
Ohioans.
  Since the EBAA's inception in 1961, corneal transplants have changed 
the lives of over 1,000,000 people. However, much remains to be done to 
offer more people the opportunity to receive life-changing corneal 
transplants.
  I encourage all Americans to register to become eye donors. Inform 
your family of your wishes; designate yourself as a donor on your 
driver's license; and register as an eye donor through your State donor 
registry.
  I urge my colleagues to work with their local eyebanks and the EBAA 
to promote the importance of eye donation and its life-enhancing 
effects on corneal recipients.
  During March 2012, let us commemorate the lives of the donors who 
make corneal transplants possible, celebrate the sight restored by 
these transplants, and work to widen the path for additional 
advancements in corneal transplantation.

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