By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville Lions Club teamed up this week with the North Little Rock Lions Club to offer free vision screening for pre-K, elementary and middle school students at the schools in the Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District.
The North Little Rock Lions Club owns a spot vision screener, a hand-held device that can screen both eyes at the same time from three feet away.
The spot screener detects nearsightedness, farsightedness, blurred vision, unequal refractive power, eye misalignment and unequal pupil size.
“It is important to catch eye problems early. If children have trouble seeing, they will have trouble reading and it will delay their education,” North Little Rock Lions Club member Andy Miller said.
This is the first year for the Jacksonville Lions Club to offer the screenings for students. Parents had to fill out permission forms allowing the Lions Club to perform the screenings.
At Dupree Elementary School, 86 students were screened, 12 were found needing additional testing by an eye doctor.
The Jacksonville Lions Club is a volunteer group focused on eye health and vision. They offer to pay for doctor’s screenings and glasses for children and adults who qualify for assistance.
The Jacksonville Lions Club welcomes new members. It meets at noon on the first and third Wednesday each month at the Bar-B-Que Shack, 1000 S. Hwy. 161.
