Residents take advantage of free eye screenings

Lisa Mathis  / lmathis@dothaneagle.com
Dothan Eagle
February 15, 2007

Keanna Newby wanted to know if her son, Nehemiah, was one of the 11 percent of children who have been diagnosed with eye problems since a statewide vision screening project began in 2004. 

"I wear glasses; my mom and father wear glasses," Newby said.

Although Nehemiah has displayed no obvious eye problems, she wanted to be on the safe side.

So she brought Nehemiah to Alfred Saliba Family Services Early Head Start on Wednesday for a free eye screening by FocusFirst, a project created to promote early detection and treatment of eye disorders.

"I take care of my vision and I want to take care of my children’s," Newby said.

FocusFirst sends student volunteers to various communities in Alabama to conduct vision screenings of children ages 2 to 5. And the children need not read the bottom line of an alphabet chart. A photorefractive camera records the image of the eyes.

Sky Stewart, a volunteer, explained how the camera works.

"When all light is reflected back, the eyes are good," he said. "If there’s a cloudy spot, something’s wrong."

It is this process that helped them diagnose a 6-month-old infant with cataracts. 

"It is a very quick procedure," Stewart said. "It isn’t invasive or intense."

And it is very important to catch vision problems early.

"We’re happy they are here," said Minnie Vickers, center director of Headland Head Start. Although the children have had at least one eye exam before, Vickers said this one is more important.

"They had their eyes checked during the physical when they enrolled in head start," she said. "But it is good to have this screening because they didn’t understand the first one."

Also, the physical included many different screenings, whereas this exam was able to concentrate on vision only.

"Problems can be detected at an early stage, before the children get too behind," Vickers said.

FocusFirst is a project that was created from Impact, a nonprofit organization that develops and implements service-learning projects using volunteers from universities throughout the state. 

The project founder, Stephen Black, said the exams are productive on two levels - vision health and volunteerism. 

"We desperately need young people’s energies, perspectives and talents to make our communities and institutions work well." Black said. "I see the college years as an incredible opportunity to engage students in addressing human and community needs."

The group conducted 8,400 examinations last year and Black predicts more than 10,000 will take place this year.