Lions Club looks to expand vision screenings

Especially for young children, not being able to see well can mean behavioral issues or missing the opportunity to learn while in the classroom. And often youngsters might not even know they’re missing out because they don’t even realize they need glasses.

The Whitefish Lions Club, in conjunction with the Montana Sight and Hearing Foundation, has been working for several years to perform annual youth vision screenings in public and private K-12 classrooms, at daycares and preschools, and at special events.

Volunteers use a Plusoptix screening device that detects the most prevalent vision disorders and provides information that is given to the school and then passed to parents so children who need to can be refereed to an optometrist for follow-up. The device that looks almost like a video game device is lined up with the child’s face while they look at a smiley face on the front and then it records an instant reading.

Geoff Callaway, a retired optometrist, and Tom Kennelly, both Lions Club members, are among the volunteers who spend time screening children each year.

“A child doesn’t know they can’t see,” Callaway says. “It’s really rewarding when they put on glasses for the first time and realize what they had been missing.”

“Kids that can’t see often start acting out,” Callaway adds. “The earlier the better if we catch kids who can’t see because it can impact their development.”

After about eight years of holding screenings, Lions Club members have already seen the benefits.

“I’ve had parents thank me,” Kennelly said. “One dad said that his child’s reading improved 100 percent after getting glasses. Those are the feel-good moments that make it all worthwhile.”

The Whitefish Lions Club works with the Montana Sight and Hearing Foundation, which provides additional vision screening machines, along with volunteer services as provided by Dave and Teresa Falcon from the Kalispell Sunrise Lions Club.

During just the past year more than 9,600 students in Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Kalispell, Lakeside, Libby, and Whitefish were screened for early detection of the most prevalent vision disorders.

But as demand has increased for vision screenings, the Whitefish Lions Club knew it wanted to acquire additional Plusoptix machines so it began raising funds for new machines that cost $7,000 apiece.

The machines make vision screening relatively quick — four volunteers using the device were able to screen all the students at Muldown Elementary School in about three hours. However, Kennelly says with a limited number of machines the Lions Club could only screen so many children, but adding more could also mean attending community events where any child could go through the quick screening process.

“We knew we were missing a portion of the population,” Kennelly said. “If we fundraised we knew we could sent up at events like at the Farmers Market and capture even people that are here visiting from out of town. We can provide them with the print out and then they can take that information with them.”

Callaway notes that while an optometrist could not write a prescription from the information provided from the machine, it is a starting point to determining a solution to vision issues.

Over the course of the past year, the Whitefish Lions Club received sufficient contributions that allowed the club to purchase two additional vision screening machines. With the additional machines, the Lions Club is able to substantially increase the number of students to be tested over a much shorter period of time.

Donations were received from Glacier Bank and Whitefish Credit Union. Additional financial support also came from a number of Whitefish Lions Club members, including the Kennelly family and Abell family, and from Don K Whitefish.

Vision screenings have been happening in the Whitefish School District for roughly a dozen years. Prior to the Lions Club involvement and obtaining the Plusoptix, volunteers including parents would use vision charts to test students eyesight.

Callaway says the system led to a lot of false positives that were referred to him to be rechecked.

“Kids can fake their way through that test, but this machine cuts all that out,” he said. “Before there would have been kids that we missed and also ones that were checked by an optometrist that didn’t need to be.”

In addition to checking student’s vision, the machine can also confirm for those who already have glasses that their prescription is correct.

Providing vision screenings is just the first step. The Lions Club also provides financial support for children and adults who are in-need of glasses, but they want to provide even more assistance.

“The more funds we raise the more people we can help who need examines and the more people we can assist who need glasses, but can’t afford it,” Callaway notes.

For more information on the Lions Club vision screening program, contact Geoff Callaway at 406-871-4823.