The shared journey of reducing preventable blindness: HRH Princess Margriet performs our online eye test

We at easee celebrate World Sight Day today with an orange flavor

We at easee feel very ‘orange’ today. On World Sight Day we proudly share the iScreen study on our technology in homecare, on how instrumental Vision 2020 NL is in getting this study up and running, and thank Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands for the support she is giving for the shared mission to reduce blindness and preventable blindness. Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet is patroness of Vision 2020 Netherlands, a foundation that on behalf of the WHO, has the mission to eliminate preventable blindness and visual impairment from society. In light of World Sight Day, Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet contributed to our iScreen study by taking the online eye test and sharing her experience. The i-Screen study is performed in collaboration between easee and the Department of Ophthalmology – Low Vision Research of the Amsterdam UMC, and Buurtzorg, a home care organisation. The aim of the study is to investigate the support and cost effectiveness of online eye screening supported by district nursing in home care.

Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet about the initiative: “Because it has become apparent that there is a need, not only worldwide, but also certainly in the Netherlands, to make prevention top priority, especially for eye care. Because it is not yet known how many people actually walk around with low vision, sometimes even blindness. By performing tests, it is possible, because then hopefully we can discover visual impairment at an early stage.”

The overarching goal of the iScreen study is to gain insight into the perceptions and public support for the implementation of vision screening in home care, using easee’s online eye test. This will help us find out whether eye-screening (and subsequent referral) should be introduced in home healthcare. Professionals and the innovation itself will be investigated from various stakeholders’ perspectives: these are the individual, healthcare and socio-political context. In the scope of the study, a nurse will assist the users if needed to use easee’s online visual acuity testing, and assess a user’s distance vision, near vision, and macular function. The results are currently being currently evaluated against conventional standards.

Yves Prevoo, CEO of easee: “Our vision is to enable access digital eye care wherever and whenever they need or want. Our primary focus has been on online vision testing, but we have multiple new tests in clinical trials, such as the iScreen study: our online reading test, which facilitates remote vision screening in home care. Most importantly, we are working on several technological improvements to make the eye testing experience so easy and accessible that nobody will be suffering from unnecessary poor vision anymore. We are very proud to be part of Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet mission of reducing preventable blindness. This proves that we are on the right track. « 

easee developed their proprietary platform in close cooperation with UMC Utrecht and in line with the Medical Device requirements of the European Commission. Research proving easee’s online refraction test is as accurate as an in person exam has last year been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. The easee test is the world’s first CE certified online eye test

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