Clinic provides free vision screenings

By Staff
Kim West
Approximately 200 local children took advantage of free back-to-school vision screenings last month at EyeCare Professionals, an optometry clinic in Russellville.
"We felt like it would be a service to our community, and we thought there was a need for free vision screenings in Franklin County," said Dr. Martha Greenberg, who founded the clinic with her husband Dr. Sidney Greenberg in 1975. "I think this is really important because children are our future and 80 percent of what children learn in school is through their eyes."
This is the second consecutive year the clinic has sponsored the screenings, which were increased from only two days to three.
"Last year we probably examined between 80 to 100 kids in two days and evenings," said Kay McAfee, an optometric assistant at Eyecare Professionals since 1993. "This year we screened on three different days, including a Saturday because of the workweek for parents. We probably had 60 students on the first day between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m."
Each child received a goody bag and underwent an exam that included plus-lenses and auto refraction tests and checks for common eye problems, including hyperopia and myopia, better known as farsightedness and nearsightedness.
"We went to the American Optometry Association and worked out an examination for a basic vision screening," Greenberg said. "We try to check what they're seeing by using an objective assessment with computerized equipment, which doesn't require a child to say anything."
Amber West, an optometric technician in her sixth year at the clinic, said vision problems aren't easily detected without a screening.
"There were several kids that actually showed signs (of vision problems)," West said. "They're used to seeing with their eyes so they might not know they need glasses."
Staffed by nine assistants and four optometrists, the clinic also participates in InfantSEE, which was founded three years ago by the AOA. The program provides a free comprehensive infant eye assessment within the first year of life and detects eye disorders such as amblyopia, which causes reduced vision in a healthy eye due to focus and alignment problems.
"We are part of the InfantSEE program, which screens infants before they're six months old for amblyopia," said Greenberg, who recently joined the program's board of directors. "We put a great emphasis on children in this practice, and we want to make sure vision problems are detected as early as possible."
Greenberg said students who missed the original screening dates could still receive a free screening during the next two weeks. The clinic also plans to extend the screening program to its satellite offices in Red Bay and Moulton.
"We are going to continue the screenings for at least the next couple of weeks, since parents might not have known about the program," Greenberg said. "It was so successful here that we're working at doing this at the Red Bay and Moulton offices this school year."
"It's very gratifying to help children with this because many of them don't realize they're not seeing what other children are seeing until they go for their driver's license."