In February 2023, Dr. Edward Cordes, optometrist and Chair of the Lions KidSight USA Foundation, and Gail Cordes, optician, participated in the Lions Club International Global Week of Service. In total, 30 Lions from 10 different nations participated in over 20 service projects in Kenya.
Dr. Cordes’ team included three American optometrists, a local optometrist, an American optician, a highly trained technician and an experienced screener from the United Kingdom. Together they performed vision screening for over 2,000 patients in 3 ½ days.
Patients were examined with Spot Vision Screener, which were provided on loan from School Health (Baxter’s strategic distributor for the Spot Vision Screener in the U.S. education and nonprofit segment). Screenings were performed in several locations including a school for severely handicapped students in wheelchairs, a school for the intellectually challenged, The Special Olympics Opening Eyes Program, a school for a Maasai Village and a Mega Sight For Kids program. The Spot Vision Screener was used to triage patients who needed further refractive care. The local Lions Club members then sent the final prescription to the Lions Eye Hospital for fabrication and delivery.
“The Spot Vision Screener performed very well under difficult conditions during this mission trip,” commented Dr. Cordes.“We could not always control the lighting in the areas in which we were screening. Our goal was to see as many children as possible and provide detailed refractive care when required. Using the Spot Vision Screener as a triage process allowed us to examine many, many children and then provide advanced services to those who needed it.”
In addition to the unique lighting situation, many of the children the team screened were wheelchair-bound, and either non-verbal or could not always cooperate with the usual examination procedures.“Using the Spot Vision Screener allowed us to provide a level of care not possible through traditional means,” commented Dr. Cordes.
Spot Vision Screener is a handheld, portable, ocular screening device designed to help quickly and easily detect amblyopic risk factors in patients as young as six months. The device automatically captures an image from a non-invasive, three-foot distance using the fixation target and sounds that help keep a child’s focus. Results are easy to interpret and share with parents and eye care specialists.
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