HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE -- The Hot Springs Village Breakfast Lions Club recently had 28 people attend its Vision Screening Training to prepare for screening some 2,700 children this fall. Club President Joanie Corry presented the program.
An average of 8 to 10 percent of children screened will need to see an optometrist, so this simple screening can mean a world of difference for young children, making sure they can see well enough to read and learn.
Patti Smith and Joanie Wiltgen presented a lab during which new volunteers were taught to use the Spot camera to enter data and practice using the camera in a dark room. The Spot is a camera computer developed by PediaVision. Data for children to be screened must be entered into the camera's computer prior to going to a school. A dark room is needed to screen the children.
For the screening, a child simply sits down and looks into the front of the device, focusing their vision on its blinking red, amber and blue lights. A chirping bird auditory cue can also be used, to attract the attention of young children. It then takes a series of photos of the child's eyes using infrared light, all within no more than one second.
Conditions that Spot can identify include near- and far-sightedness, unequal refractive power, eye structure problems, pupil size deviations, and eye misalignment. If the camera detects a vision problem, a second photo will be taken. The results are printed immediately, and sent home to the parents, suggesting the child be seen by an optometrist for examination.
The Lions then follow up with the parents a week or so later. Lions are prepared to assist the parents in the costs involved for the exam, and the glasses if required.
The club's screening project began in 2000, under Lion Carl Foreman, using only a Polaroid camera in a darkened school room. This tedious procedure required an optometrist to examine the photos to determine if a visual problem existed. The first teams saw about 200 children a year. In 2010, Lion Don Draper took over the program and expanded it because of the numbers of children found to need further visual examination by a doctor. In 2012, a Spot vision screening camera was purchased from proceeds of the club for $8,500. That sped up the testing and the results were more accurate. In 2016, the Vision Screening teams saw 1,600 children. The program has now expanded into four counties.
The Lions' guidelines require the child to be at least 2 years old up to those in kindergarten. Parents must give written consent for the child to be tested.
For those interested in working with the HSV Breakfast Lions, the club meets at 7:45 a.m. on the first and third Thursdays of each month in Chef Johnna's at the DeSoto Club.
For breakfast reservations, call Joanie Corry at 501-762-9566.
Local on 09/19/2017