The Manning Lions Club expanded its vision screening program to Clarendon County elementary schools this week, offering free screenings designed to identify potential vision problems that could affect students in the classroom.
The program began Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 25-26, at Manning Elementary School, where approximately 450 students were scheduled to be screened. Over the next month, Lions Club members will visit other elementary schools throughout the county, working with school nurses and administrators to schedule and conduct the screenings.
The effort was approved earlier this year by Clarendon County School District Superintendent Dr. Shawn Johnson after he met with Lion Joe McNeil about the project. The club has provided vision screenings for children at area Head Start programs for the past five years.
Expanding the program into elementary schools is expected to help school nurses while giving more children access to early vision checks.
The Lions used Spot vision screening cameras, which capture images of both eyes simultaneously from about 3 feet away. The screening takes about a minute per child and does not require the equipment to touch the student.
Once an image is captured, software analyzes the results and produces a report. Students whose readings fall outside the normal range are flagged, and their parents are notified that additional testing by an optometrist or ophthalmologist is recommended.
The screenings can detect potential problems including nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, unequal refraction between the eyes, eye misalignment and pupil size differences.
Because vision problems can affect a child's performance in school, Lions Club members said the screenings provide an opportunity to identify potential issues early in a student's education.
Vision is one of Lions Clubs International's global causes. The organization's involvement in vision advocacy dates to 1925, when Helen Keller challenged Lions to become "Knights of the Blind" in the effort to prevent blindness and assist people with vision loss.
