Institute helps U.S. athletes see Olympic gold

Jacksonville, FL-The Vision Care Institute LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company, will offer its AchieveVision Program to Olympic athletes and hopefuls. The program will assess and help optimize athletes' visual skills in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Members of the men's and women's U.S. archery and soccer teams will be the first to use the AchieveVision Program.

The AchieveVision Program is a customized, state-of-the-art visual skills assessment and improvement program designed to maximize each individual's vision for his or her specific sport and lifestyle. The AchieveVision Program was developed with input from a council of experts, including ophthalmologists, optometrists, coaches, sports trainers, and academics. Not only does the program assess maximum visual acuity but it also evaluates and helps optimize dynamic visual skills such as hand-eye coordination, peripheral vision, and reaction time.

"The AchieveVision Program will help athletes improve their vision by fine tuning their visual skills, particularly those most relevant to their sport," said Dr. Daniel Laby, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Boston.

Several tests are used to determine an individual's visual skills, ranging from computer-based systems to assessments that can cause a person to work up a sweat. The AchieveVision Program tests visual skills such as visual acuity, hand-eye coordination, contrast sensitivity, and depth perception, among others.

In addition to the AchieveVision Program, The Vision Care Institute will work with athletes and their eye-care professionals to provide any needed vision correction and lens fittings.