Eye Shields Donated By Gulden Ophthalmics Help Save US Troops’ Eyesight
NEWS RELEASE
Press Contact: Tom Cockley
News from Gulden Ophthalmics
Gulden donated 500 Eye Shields when company president
Tom Cockley learned that US troops did not have them.
ELKINS PARK, PA — An Eye Shield can be found in the first aid kits of all U.S. sailors, Marines, and airmen according to an article in MilitaryTimes.com. They are used when a facial injury endangers a soldier’s, Marine’s, or sailor’s eyesight. But US Army soldiers have not had eye shield devices in their first aid kits – that is, until the recent donation by Gulden Ophthalmics of Elkins Park, PA (outside of Philadelphia) to our troops via Troops Direct (www.TroopsDirect.org).
Tom Cockley, president of Gulden Ophthalmics, when he heard about the eye shield situation, “jumped in” and changed that by donating 500 of his company’s Eye Shields for soldier’s kits. When Tom read the article in Military Times he said he was “dismayed that the eye shield devices were not available on the front line to help save soldiers’ eyesight after a facial injury.”
Tom knows, based on his years of work with eye care professionals and his relationships with Salus University’s Philadelphia College of Optometry, that eye injuries can be “very unforgiving.” According to medical experts, when injured, eyes must be treated “with respect” at the point of injury to prevent further damage. Often, the point of injury is in the field, and it seemed essential to Tom that Eye Shields are provided to help protect eye injuries of service men and women.
Having an effective response capability – such as tools in first aid kits – helps military personnel considerably, according to military sources. Tom understood that Congress has created the Defense Centers of Excellence to lead research initiatives and advocate state-of-the-art treatments for severely injured and ill troops. Dr. Mary Lawrence, the Vision Center of Excellence deputy director, told a Defense Department task force earlier this year that “A pressure patch on an eye is devastating. A pressure patch can turn an eye that is salvageable into one that is not salvageable and will end up in a bucket in an operating room.”
According to Military Times, eye injuries have accounted for 15% of battlefield traumas. Since 2001, eye injuries to US troops have resulted in 197,000 visits to doctors and 4,000 hospitalizations.
Tom Cockley and Gulden hope to protect troops’ eyes with the eye shield donations to US Army first aid kits. This is not the first time Tom has jumped in to help those in need – he has been a Red Cross trained volunteer for several years and last fall he volunteered for two weeks with the Red Cross in parts of Louisiana battered by hurricane Isaac.
To view Troops Direct Facebook post about the eye shield donation from Gulden go to: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=513731292005994&l=85bddceecc. Troops Direct recent Tweet stated: “These are protective eye cups used to protect eye/eye cavity injuries. Packing these wounds with gauze could damage the tissue … that’s why we are sending 500 of these to some “docs” [military medics] in need. Your support made it happen!”
For more information on Eye Shields and other ophthalmic devices, visit Gulden’s website or contact Gulden Ophthalmics, 225 Cadwalader Avenue, Elkins Park, PA 19027-2020 Tel 215-884-8105 Fax 215-884-0418<p>
ABOUT TROOPS DIRECT: TroopsDirect supports our front line troops exclusively at larger unit levels with the objective of making them the healthiest, most energized and highest spirited Marines, soldiers, aircrew and sailors that we can. It functions as a non-profit ‘back line’ of supply for units based in Afghanistan, Africa, at sea and other in other ‘hot spots’. They communicate with the front lines daily and provide “in bulk” detailed hygiene, nutrition, gear and K9 support.
www.guldenophthalmics.com email: info@guldenophthalmics.com