Cycle of Sight Eye Event Provides Hundreds of Students an Opportunity to Learn
Cincinnati Children's, LensCrafters, Prevent Blindness Ohio and the Optician Association of Ohio, Cincinnati Division, Join to Deliver Free Services on November 5 and 6
One in four school-age children has a vision problem. This is alarming considering 80 percent of what children learn is visual.
To provide a better education for our children, the Abrahamson Pediatric Eye Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, LensCrafters' Cycle of Sight program, Prevent Blindness Ohio and the Opticians Association of Ohio, Cincinnati Division, hosted the fourth annual Cycle of Sight event. The Cycle of Sight event provided nearly 550 glasses for students at 80 schools around Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
"Children with impaired vision may have greater difficulty learning, may have increased risk of injury due to accidents, and may have difficulty with psychosocial development," said Connie West, MD, director of the Ophthalmology Division at Cincinnati Children's. "That is why community vision screening events are so important."
Hundreds of students, ranging from kindergarten to high-school age, who failed two prior screens and needed eye exams but would otherwise not have access to this type of medical care, were bussed to Cincinnati Children's on Wednesday, November 5, and Thursday, November 6. Those who failed their eye exam and needed glasses were escorted to a fitting room where they selected from a variety of quality frames donated by LensCrafters' Cycle of Sight program before returning to the bus.
"To facilitate seeing so many children during this two-day blitz, we transformed our department, nearby hallways and other rooms into a mass optical clinic," says Dr. West.
More than 75 volunteers per day, including ophthalmologists, optometrists, opticians, trained technical staff, nurses and lay people, were on hand to operate the two-day event and manage everything from traffic flow to entertaining children. Last year, volunteers composed of Cincinnati Children's staff, LensCrafters associates, other community optical professionals, and members of the Cincinnati Rotary Club.
LensCrafters will manufacture the glasses and, on December 3, volunteers from the Optician Association of Ohio, Cincinnati Division, and LensCrafters will hand-deliver glasses to each child's school, including Cincinnati Public Schools. This is in coordination with LensCrafters' national "Hometown Day" effort, a day when associates and doctors at stores across the country provide free eye exams and new glasses to those in need.
"Cincinnati Public School teachers, faculty and families realize the importance of vision and its affect in the classroom," says Janet Walsh, Chief Officer, Cincinnati Public Schools Department of School & Community Engagement. "In fact, in the past, there has been intense competition among CPS schools to ensure their district gets chosen to participate."
Contact Information
Amy Caruso, 513-636-5637,
amy.caruso@cchmc.org
