(Omaha, NE) -- Omaha-area eye specialists are offering free safety glasses to the public ahead of Independence Day weekend. Children's Hospital & Medical Center, Nebraska Medicine, Truhlsen Eye Institute, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center are partnering to lower the number of firework-related accidents this Independence Day weekend.
"Every year we have many ocular injuries from fireworks, unfortunately, we also have a few who have complete vision loss. These injuries can easily be prevented," says Dr. Roa Chundury, UNMC Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Truhlsen Eye Institute, and Oculofacial Plastic and Reconstruction Surgeon with Nebraska Medicine.
15,600 people were treated in 2020 for firework related injuries, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They say around 15% of those injuries involved eyes.
"Fireworks and even sparklers are incendiary and explosive devices that can burn at temperatures up to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit! Even brief contact with the delicate tissues of the eye can cause devastating burns," says Dr. Paul Rychwalski, the Dr. John and Irene Graether Endowed Chair in Pediatric Ophthalmology, Truhlsen Eye Institute, and Chief of Ophthalmology at Children's Hospital & Medical Center.
Those interested in picking up a pair of safety glasses can go to one of the following locations through July 4th:
- Nebraska Medicine Health Centers, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Chalco Health Center, 8343 S. 168th Avenue, Omaha
- Family Medicine at Bellevue Health Center, 2510 Bellevue Medical Center Drive, Suite 200, Bellevue
- Eagle Run Health Center, 3685 N. 129th Street, Omaha
- Midtown Health Center, 139 South 40th Street, Omaha
- Children's Ophthalmology Clinic, 8534 Cass Street, Omaha, Monday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Children's Physicians, Creighton University Medical Center, 2412 Cuming Street, Suite 103, Omaha, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to noon
- Children's Physicians and Children's Urgent Care at West Village Pointe, 110 North 175th Street, Omaha, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday, noon to 10 p.m.
- Truhlsen Eye Institute, 3902 Leavenworth Street, Omaha, Monday through Friday, 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Truhlsen Eye Institute at Village Pointe Health Center, 110 North Street, Omaha, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The full press release from the University of Nebraska Medical Center can be found here.