Delta Discovery: LETTER: Alaska’s Ophthalmologists Thank Senator Murkowski for Helping Protect Alaskan Natives from Permanent Blindness

Alaska’s ophthalmologists today (May 22nd, 2018) thanked Sen. Lisa Murkowski, RAlaska, for her tireless efforts to secure important funding for preventing diabetic retinopathy among Native American and Alaskan Native populations. 

 

Sen. Murkowski led an important effort to secure $1 million in federal funds to upgrade retinal cameras used by an important Indian Health Service teleophthalmology program. The cameras are essential. Each allows the program to provide eye care to patients in Alaska’s most remote areas. 

 

Ophthalmologists — physicians who specialize in medical and surgical eye care — are especially invested in the effort to expand underserved Native American populations’ access to diabetic retinopathy screenings, among whom rates of this blinding ailment are higher than that of the broader U.S. 

 

“Alaska’s ophthalmologists are proud of Sen. Lisa Murkowski for working to ensure that patients in every community have timely access to quality eye care,” said, Scott Limstrom, M.D. president of the Alaska Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. “Congressional partnerships matter, and we pledge to continue fostering these relationships to improve our nation’s health care system on behalf of the 50 million Americans who experience significant eye disease.”