Karen Torgersen will be offering the services of trained Lion vision screeners for children attending November 19, 2016 Nite Lite.
“It’s a service that we as Lions are offering to area elementary schools,” she said, “and it occurred to us that many of the children who will be attending Nite Lite could also benefit from having this screening. And if parents know of neighborhood kids who want to be included, they are certainly welcome as well!”
Karen is pictured with Dave Stelzner during a screening held recently at Patterson Elementary in Mesa. The machines being used are called Spot Machines and are available through the Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation in downtown Phoenix. “These are such an improvement over the previously used system where we would hold a card in front of a child’s eye, one at a time, and ask them to identify an object on a chart in front of them,” she reports. “At Patterson we screened 330 children in about two hours, and with the old style it would have taken days!”
Karen, Dave, and other Lions have gone through special training on how to use the machines, and prior to screening days, Karen and Torgie head to Phoenix to pick up two machines. “We’ll keep them overnight because we’ll be using them a second day,” she says, “so we have them available at no cost to Spirit of Hope on November 19th. We have all heard the stories of the parents who thought their child was ‘making it up’ that he was in need of eyeglasses, only to discover, with a bit of shame, that the child was right! Or when a teacher notices a youngster wants to position themselves in the front row, but can’t convince the parent that there is indeed a vision problem, we can verify the need. What we do is not a full examination, but it does give notice that an examination is recommended.”
Of the 330 children screened at Patterson, 51 were referred for examination. This first step is absolutely free, and for children whose parents may be unable to afford the glasses, the Mesa Sunland Springs Village may be able to help with the cost. “It’s half the reason our club raises money,” Karen said.
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