General News
17 August, 2023
Lions testing students’ eyes
CAMPERDOWN Lions Club ran an eye screening clinic at St Patrick’s Primary School on Monday, offering a free check of students’ eyesight and helping pick up potential issues.
CAMPERDOWN Lions Club ran an eye screening clinic at St Patrick’s Primary School on Monday, offering a free check of students’ eyesight and helping pick up potential issues.
The clinic is part of the Lions Eye Health Program, which is run by the Lions Club International Foundation.
The clinic consisted of four different tests, checking for different vision issues that can impact on a student’s learning.
Tests conducted include the standard acuity test, a depth perception test, colour vision test, and use of a spot vision camera to check for issues.
National treasurer of Lions Eye Health Program Australia Bill Duncanson said the clinic is “superior” to any other eye testing conducted in Australia.
“In most cases where children are tested at school, it’s just for acuity test, which is looking at a wall chart with either shapes or letters on it,” he said.
“We find out whether children have a difficulty identifying colour, also if they have problems with depth perception; that is doing very fine work like threading cotton through a needle or threading some beads.
“The (spot vision) camera picks up a wide range of problems, including astigmatism, long vision and short vision problems, and uneven pupils and uneven gaze.
“All these things are done without any eye drops or anything like that; it’s done with a very high-precision camera, which is a world-leader in determining eye conditions.”
The spot vision camera test offers the ability to print off results, allowing parents to seek additional support from an optometrist.
Mr Duncanson said the clinic was a “very good” service that is helpful to schools and parents.
“It’s not only important to us, but it’s important to all the children in Australia; that, at an early age when they start school, if they’ve got a problem that may cause difficulties for them either in the classroom or even in the playground, we can find them,” he said.
“It’s a free service, so the parents will know if they need some attention, or if their vision’s okay, without taking an appointment and a day off and travelling to see an optometrist.
“Our aim is to get it into every state and every education system.”
St Patrick’s Primary School principal Tim Bourke said the Lions club approached the school to offer the service.
“Normally, we only offer it to our Foundation students, but this year we’ve extended it to other students with concerns around their eyes, and particularly our grade sixes before they leave us at the end of the year,” he said.
“It’s a great resource for parents to avoid the cost of going to an optometrist, but also it makes sure that we haven’t got any underlying sight issues that’s impacting on the children’s learning.
“Without knowing that, it could actually have detrimental effects to their school results.”