Staff at First Care Clinic in Hays saw a need to conduct more vision screenings of their youngest patients, who are often squirmy and can’t communicate well with the eye-care professional

The clinic received a grant from the United Way of Ellis County and additional funding from  the Hays Lions Club  for a portable “SureSight” vision screener.

Two staff members used it for the first time with about a dozen preschoolers at Good Beginnings Daycare.   It takes just a few seconds per eye with the hand-held screener to test for common eye problems.  If an abnormality is detected,  says nurse practitioner Amanda Bickle, it can be followed up in the office for more extensive work.

Good Beginnings Daycare owner Jessica Normandin is a neighbor to an employee at First Care Clinic who suggested the checkups.  Normandin is happy the parents of her preschoolers agreed to have the children undergo the testing.  “I think it’s really important to have these screenings at this early age because usually parents won’t take the time to do it until they’re older and in kindergarten, ” she says.

Also helping out with the screening was Sylvia Reinhardt, a nurse and a member of the Kansas Lions Sight Foundation.  The  service club’s Statewide Low Vision Program, is the first-ever recipient of the Lions Clubs International Foundation grant for low-vision services.

There’s more tonight on Street Beat Eagle Community TV Channel 14.