StemCell Therapy

By Melanie Feuk, mfeuk@hcnonline.com

Crosby Lions' new vision screening device promotes children's eye health

Albert Baker with the Crosby Lions Club pointed the PlusoptiX mobile vision screening camera at the child sitting across from him during the Crosby-Huffman Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Peso's Mexican Restaurant in Crosby on Thursday, June 15.

Only seconds later, the device beeped and before some people may have even realized, the demonstration was already over.

"That fast, I screened his eyes," Baker said.

The $7,000 PlusoptiX mobile vision screening camera was donated to the Crosby Lions Club two weeks ago by a fellow Crosby Lion in order to further the club's ability to perform vision screenings on children at local daycares and pre-kindergartens as a part of the Lions KidSight USA program.

"The program started about 20 years ago when we were testing children's eyes for Amblyobia, which is lazy eye," Baker said. "If you catch a child with lazy eye early, at around 1 year old, we can correct it before he or she gets into school."

Baker himself has scanned tens-of-thousands of children in the last 20 years and has firsthand experience of how important early detection of eye disease is for children.

"There was a 3-year-old girl, and I found through the old camera system that the child had a tumor in her right eye," Baker said.

Within a week, the little girl received an eye operation that saved her eyesight.

Over the course of the program, technological improvements have allowed the Lions Club to detect even more diseases in young children, thereby greatly improving the child's ability to learn and in some cases, the child's chances retaining their eyesight.

Last year, the Crosby Lions Club used a borrowed PlusoptiX camera. Now that they have their own, it will allow them to perform more vision screenings locally in Crosby, Huffman and surrounding communities.

Since the new screening device was donated, the Crosby Lions Club has done approximately 1,000 screenings.

This year is the 100th birthday of Lions International, and June 30 will mark the 92nd anniversary of Helen Keller's speech calling Lions International to be Knights of the Blind.

For more information about the Crosby Lions Club, visit the Crosby Lions Club Facebook page.

Read more:
Crosby Lions' new vision screening device promotes children's eye health - Chron.com

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