The Lord Baltimore Lions Club began their annual vision screening for preschool and kindergarten children on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at Lord Baltimore Elementary School.
Coastal Point • Laura Ford:
Area preschool children gathered in the library at Lord Baltimore Elementary School for an annual vision screening put together by the Lord Baltimore Lions Club.
Six preschoolers filed into the LB library, eyes wide and permission slips in hand. Four-year-old Mackenzie Wingate hopped into the chair when she was called to get her picture taken. Before she could blink, two photographs of her eyes were shot with a special Polaroid camera and high-speed film.
Minutes after the film developed, Lions member Bill Evans showed her the picture of her eyes. “That’s me!” Wingate exclaimed, laughing. She was sure not to forget her sticker when she left, which would let her parents know her eyes were screened by a Lion. Wingate was just one of the many children who received an eye screening that day.
“If we can catch problems when the children are young, sometimes they are easier to correct,” said Fenwick Island Lions Club member O.J. “Ash” Ashinhurst, coordinator of the annual vision screenings. He said it is the strategy of the Lions to screen all children who are about 4 to 5 years old.
Last year, the Lions screened about 900 local children, 113 of whom needed further exams. “I know 27 of those 113 have gotten glasses,” Ashinhurst said.
It is numbers like those that inspire the Lions to continue their work, although Ashinhurst admitted, “If even only one child’s vision (was corrected), it’s worth the trouble.”
The screenings are a joint effort of Lions and Lioness Club members who volunteer to work the screenings. Ashinhurst said there has never been a problem getting members to volunteer. “In fact, sometimes I think I am not including enough people who want to help out,” he said. The volunteers are then trained in the vision screening procedure and how to operate the machinery in order to produce the photos.
The eye photos are sent to Vanderbilt University, where specialists analyze them for abnormalities such as amblyopia, or “lazy eye,” as well as a difference in refraction between the two eyes, farsightedness, nearsightedness and unequal focusing of light rays as they enter the eye, which causes blurred vision.
Some 85 to 90 percent of defective eye problems can be detected by the instant flash photos, said Ashinhurst. The professionals then will recommend the affected child to receive further comprehensive vision examination, if necessary, from an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
The Lions Club is not new to being at the forefront for vision. In 1925, the club was inspired by Helen Keller, who first challenged the Lions Club to foster and sponsor the American Foundation for the Blind. In her speech to Lions Club members, Keller said: “Will you not help me hasten the day when there shall be no preventable blindness; no little deaf, blind child untaught; no blind man or woman unaided?”
Since 1925, Lions Clubs nationwide have continued strides in improving detection of eye problems. The First Sight Campaign, begun in 1990 by the Lions Club International, aimed to make their vision efforts incorporate global needs as well. In 15 years, the campaign raised $198 million to assist with 818 ongoing projects.
Coastal Point • Laura Ford:
Lion Bill Evans and Gabriel check out the student’s vision screening.
Fenwick Island Lions Club member Bruce Schoonover said their club contributes to producing eye screenings both locally and internationally. The results have been hugely effective, according to Schoonover. Sight has been saved for more than 24 million people in 188 countries, from treatable diseases such as trachoma, river blindness, cataracts and diabetic eye disease.
Schoonover said their efforts to improve vision internationally and locally are “things you can’t do with money. It’s gotta be done with the heart.”
“It makes a big difference for a lot of kids,” Ashinhurst said. He also stated that parents who are unable to afford to take their child to an eye professional after the local exams can come to the Lions Club for financial assistance. “We make sure their child’s eyes will be taken care of.”
The Lions Club will continue with their local school vision screenings through Nov. 21, covering 14 public schools, and will strive to raise money for the international campaign throughout the year.
As part of those efforts, The Delaware Lions Club will be hosting a Walk For Sight on Sunday, Oct. 8, at the Dover International Speedway. And the Fenwick Island Lions Club will also be hosting Longaberger Basket Bingo on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the Millsboro Civic Center in order to raise money to continue their efforts.