November 15, 2005
Section: D
Edition: 01
Page: 01

Antoinette Konz Montgomery Advertiser
akonz@gannett.com

Amanda Smith sat quietly as she listened and learned how she might be able to help detect certain eye disorders in preschoolers that may cause them trouble down the road. Smith, 14, a freshman at Montgomery's Booker T. Washington Magnet High School, is among a group of about 30 students who were trained Monday morning on how to use a photo-optic scan camera that will screen for a handful of vision disorders. In two weeks, they will travel to several Head Start locations and begin screening children. "I'm really excited," she said. "I think it will be fun. It gives us a chance to get out of class and help out the little kids." 

The students at BTW are the only high school students in the state who have been asked to participate in the vision screening program through FocusFirst, an initiative under Impact Alabama, a nonprofit organization based in Birmingham. "They usually have college students do the screenings," said Carole Yeaman, the law magnet teacher at BTW. "But two years ago, the students met Stephen Black (the president and founder of Impact Alabama) and he was so impressed that he asked if they would be interested in helping out."

Some of the disorders the students will be screening for include myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), amblyopia (lazy eye) and cataracts.
A group of students helped conduct the screenings in the spring and were asked to help again, Yeaman said.

"That same group and a group of my Law I students will be doing the screenings this time," she said. "We are really happy that we are able to help out again." Neeta Kirpalani and Rachel McWhorter, coordinators with FocusFirst, visited BTW on Monday and showed students how to set up the camera device as well as how to focus and change out the film.

"Our goal is to provide a cost-effective, direct response to the vision problems of underprivileged children who live throughout Alabama," Kirpalani said. "We want to ensure that they enter the school system with the best vision possible and that they have had their eyes screened properly."

It's estimated that only 21 percent of preschool children receive proper vision screenings, she said.

Kirpalani said between last November and May, more than 200 trained student volunteers screened more than 4,400 children in 24 counties.

About 13.5 percent, or about 600, of the children failed the FocusFirst screening, and all of them are receiving free follow-up care, including a 3-year-old girl who underwent cataract surgery in June, she said. "The cataracts were detected by FocusFirst volunteers from Jacksonville State University during a screening in Calhoun County," Kirpalani said. Blaise Staub, a BTW junior, and Elishea Trammell, a sophomore, enjoyed performing the screenings last spring and will help do them in a few weeks. "It was kind of hard at times because the kids are so little and it's dark in the room," Trammell said. "Some moved around a lot and some cried because they were scared." "It's really rewarding when you gain their trust and they give you a big hug afterwards," Staub said.

ONLINE EXTRA

Eye disorders

Some of the eye disorders students from Montgomery's Booker T. Washington Magnet High School will be screening for at area Head Start locations beginning Nov. 29:

Amblyopia -- Also known as lazy eye. It occurs when one eye is not used enough for the visual system in the brain to develop properly. The brain ignores the images from the weak eye and uses only those from the stronger eye, leading to poor vision. Amblyopia usually affects only one eye but may occur in both eyes. Children can develop amblyopia between birth and about age seven. A child with amblyopia may not even realize that he or she is using only one eye. Ignoring the image from the weak eye is an unconscious response over which the child has no control.

Myopia -- Nearsightedness. People who are nearsighted have what is called a refractive error. This means that the light rays bend incorrectly into the eye to transmit images to the brain. In people with myopia, the eyeball is too long or the cornea has too much curvature, so the light entering the eye is not focused correctly. Light rays of images focus in front of the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye, rather than directly on the retina, causing blurred vision.

Hyperopia -- Farsightedness. It occurs when light entering the eye focuses behind the retina, instead of directly on it. An abnormally flat cornea or short eye can cause the light to enter the eye this way.

Astigmatism -- Astigmatism is characterized by an irregular curvature of the cornea. This type of disorder is also known as a refractive error. Astigmatism occurs in nearly everybody to some degree. For significant curvature, treatment is required.

www.webmd.com

© 2005 Impact Alabama