Nonpareil letters to the editor

Nonpareil letters to the editor

Protect children’s eye health during back to school

As a child living with vision loss, I participated in sports and other extracurricular activities. I now look back wondering why we never considered protective sports eyewear.

Having retinitis pigmentosa, my eyes were sensitive to bright lights, so computer glasses would have caused less strain on my eyes and perhaps preserved my vision longer.

August is Children’s Eye Health & Safety Month. At Outlook Enrichment, we share the following tips as children head back to school.

Children’s eyes absorb more blue light than adults from digital device screens. Prevent Blindness encourages youth to follow the 20-20-20 Rule. Every 20 minutes, youngsters should take 20 seconds to look 20 feet away.

Here are ways to keep eyes healthy when online:

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• Adjust screen brightness to match the light levels around you.

• Consider computer eyeglasses.

• Make conscious efforts to blink as often as possible.

• Sit about 25 inches from your screen.

• Use eye drops to refresh your eyes.

In addition to blue light vision issues, did you know that emergency rooms treat a sports-related eye injury every 13 minutes? A staggering 43% of sports-related eye injuries are to children ages 14 and younger.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology offers tips to help protect and preserve a child’s eye health during athletic competition:

• Children should wear sports eye protectors made with polycarbonate lenses for baseball, basketball, football, racquet sports, soccer, hockey, lacrosse and paintball. Basketball causes the most sports eye injuries in the U.S. Baseball, softball, airsoft rifles, pellet guns, racquetball and hockey follow.

• An ophthalmologist can recommend appropriate eye protection and advise on participation in high impact or other high-risk sports.

At Outlook Enrichment, your journey beyond vision starts here. We empower our community and beyond by raising the quality of life of those who experience vision loss.

Outlook Enrichment Program Manager

Preparing your wallet for everything life throws at you

Budgeting your expenses is crucial to staying on-top of your finances and ensuring you save up for retirement, but is your budget ready for an illness, a fire or a flat tire?

Most Iowans don’t have $10,000 in savings to help in the event of an expensive emergency. Don’t get caught unprepared, prevent your next financial headache by expecting the not-so-unexpected costs. Here are some tips from the Iowa Department of Insurance and Financial Services to help start a money management plan:

1. Identify expected finances: account for monthly spending costs like rent and groceries and see if there are any monthly expenses you haven’t noticed before.

2. Determine irregular expenses: pay attention to the purchases you make every season. How much do Christmas presents usually cost? Do you get your oil changed in the spring?

3. See the bigger picture: after accounting for your monthly and seasonal costs, now you can start planning for your yearly expenses. If you get a leaky roof every spring, prepare for it when you’re planning out 2025.

4. Cut back on luxuries: cutting back on unneeded products or services can start to add up. If you put aside a small percentage of your income a month, you’ll have the start of a robust rainy-day fund.

It can be difficult to know where to start when building a budget, especially for women who may face more financial burdens with childcare and specialized healthcare but following these steps can help prepare for unexpected costs. Know you have friends at the Iowa Department of Insurance and Financial Services. to learn more about bracing your budget for the next emergency be sure/check out DIFS SmartHER Money and Save4Later programs

Heather Kriener, Des Moines

Financial Literacy Director

Iowa Department of Insurance and Financial Services

Recent nursing home reporting demand more accountability

Iowans expect accountability and oversight when it comes to taxpayer dollars and enforcement of our state laws, especially when it comes to nursing home care.

The reports regarding unpaid quality assurance fees are just another example of why we need change that brings better oversight of these facilities, and better care for their residents. Ten years is far too long for Iowa taxpayers to wait on these facilities to pay what they owe.

In addition to introducing a comprehensive package to address nursing home safety last session, Senate Democrats called for Government Oversight committee meetings to discuss the ongoing nursing home crisis in Iowa. Republicans have failed to address these issues in any meaningful way, but they have a chance next session to join with Senate Democrats and do the right thing.

State Sen. Claire Celsi, West Des Moines

Ranking Member, Senate Oversight Committee

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