Submitted photo Melanie Smith’s Day Care partnered with the Lions Club of New Ulm on August 29 to provide free vision screenings for 12 of her day care children. Pictured L to R is Lion Wil Burdorf; Day Care Provider, Melanie Smith; Lion Brad Kirk and Lion Glen Setterholm holding the theylch Allyn SPOT Vision Screener.

NEW ULM — Melanie Smith’s Day Care partnered with the Lions Club of New Ulm on August 29 to provide free vision screenings for 12 of her Day Care children.

Members of the New Ulm Lions Club have been trained in the use of the Welch Allyn SPOT Vision Screener and are available to perform screenings at locations at any time. They can screen children from 6 months to 6 years of age.

The vision screener used is capable of screening for Astigmatism (blurred vision), Myopia (near-sightedness), Hyperopia (far-sightedness), Anisometropia (unequal refractive power), Strabismus (eye misalignment), Amblyopia (lazy-eye), and Anisocoria (pupil size deviations). The individual screening takes just a few seconds and is performed from a distance of about three feet. There is no physical contact with the child and no eye drops are administered. The equipment provides a print-out of the results for each individual which is given to the parent.

More than 12 million school-age children in the United States have some form of vision problem, yet only one in three have received eye care services before age six. Many vision problems run the risk of becoming permanent if not corrected by age seven, when the eye reaches full maturity. Vision also plays an important role in education. According to educational experts, 80 percent of learning is visual. Early screening leads to early detection, which helps ensure that children get the follow-up care they need. Lions want to make sure that correctible vision problems don’t stand in the way of children learning and seeing the world clearly.

Free Vision Screenings will be available at the Lions Fly-In Breakfast on Sunday, Sept. 10 at the New Ulm Municipal Airport.

For information about requesting future screenings for your Children’s Day Care, School or any place where children gather in the New Ulm area, contact Lion Brad Kirk at 507-766-4082 or email to “sarge_brad@yahoo.com”. Learn more about Lions KidSight at KidSightUSA.org.