By VICKI BROWN
On Thursday, March 17th, Lions Club members met at Colleton Preparatory Academy (CPA) to host Lions KidSight USA, a program to screen children for eye problems.
Lions KidSight USA is a program that helps Lions clubs across the country together to ensure children receive eye screenings and follow-up care when needed.
According to their findings, 1-in-3 young children have poor but correctable vision - often just needing eyeglasses.
“We have been to all of the elementary schools in Colleton at some point,” said Ray Colson, Lions Club member. “Covid halted some of the screenings, but we are now getting back to the schools. It is amazing to me that we will screen around 500 children, and refer 30 to 40 to eye doctors for vision problems.”
Lions Clubs throughout the Lowcountry share the vision screening device called “the Spot Vision Screener.”
Lions Club President Blaine Colson says that the vision screening device is amazing.
“I simply hold it in front of the kids, several feet away, and as kids look in the screen, it checks their vision. If there is a problem with their eyesight, the device lets us know. We print out a recommendation for follow up eye care that is sent home to parents,” said Colson.
Colson worked to screen vision with help from other Lions’ members, Bob Pence and Mike Kuszmaul. The three men worked together to get the entire school screened.
One records the name of the child and prints out recommendations, while another manages the paperwork and keeps information together and separated into classes to send notes home to parents.
According the Colson, it has been almost two years since most children have had vision screening because of Covid. To make matters worse, remote education on small computer screens may have caused a surge of myopia, or nearsightedness.
Recent studies by the American Optometric Association (AOA) indicate that this condition has spiked to affect nearly half of ALL children.
“We have seen an increase in eye problems with children because of Covid,” said Pence. “You can watch, as we screen the lower grade kids and the children get younger, the eye problems increase. The small computer screens have made many of them near sighted.”
According to the American Optometric Association, most parents are unaware that their children are having vision problems. “Undetected and untreated, vision problems can elicit some of the very same signs and symptoms commonly attributed to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), like hyperactivity and distractibility. Due to these similarities, children eliciting these symptoms should have a comprehensive vision exam with their doctor of optometry to avoid misdiagnosis.”
Signs that may indicate a child has a vision problem include:
Complaints of discomfort and fatigue.
Frequent eye rubbing or blinking.
Short attention span.
Avoiding reading and other close activities.
Frequent headaches.
Covering one eye.
Tilting the head to one side.
Holding reading materials close to the face.
An eye turning in or out.
Seeing double.
Losing place when reading.
Difficulty remembering what he or she read.
Since 1917, Lions Clubs have been serving their communities and helping people with vision problems, hearing aids and giving scholarships to eligible high school seniors.
