On a recent Sunday Morning, the CBS newsmagazine program featured a segment on Jon Bon Jovi’s JBJ Soul Kitchen, a series of restaurants the rocker opened that help feed the needy. Bon Jovi, a Grammy-winning artist who’s sold millions of records, described the sense of fulfillment he receives from helping another human being, stating, “The way to feel good is to do good, you know? Find your good and do it.”
For over 30 years Northern Plains Eye Foundation (NPEF) has found “it’s good” and, through community outreach, “do it,” by helping people see – to learn, work, play, and live full and independent lives. Ensuring people see well begins with young children. Do you know babies need their vision checked? Preschoolers should have their eyes examined before starting school? Kids need their vision checked regularly because their eyes change as they grow? They do.
That’s why NPEF’s Children’s Vision Screening Initiative (CVSI) free children’s vision screenings are at the forefront of Foundation outreach. CVSI statistics reveal undetected vision disorders impact almost 12% of our children screened – that’s over 600 kids every year. Often the child is simply in need of an eye exam and glasses, but other times conditions like amblyopia, or even cataracts, have been discovered – that without a vision screening could have led to long-term vision loss or even blindness.
As parents, we inherently tend to think our children see well and something like this happens to “other kids.” At NPEF’s recent Casino Royale Charity Affair, Jackie Waldie shared the story of her and husband, Lyn, and their son, Seth, who was screened through CVSI and referred for a comprehensive eye exam. Jackie is a teacher and special education advocate, so in learning Seth’s CVSI screening indicated risk factors requiring a comprehensive eye exam, she was a bit dismayed. “I had no idea. He always sat close to the TV, but I thought that was because he loved Thomas the Tank Engine and was fascinated by the show.”
She went on to describe, after receiving the results of Seth’s CVSI screening, taking Seth to their family ophthalmologist, Dr. Scott Eccarius, and learning of Seth’s diagnosis of strabismic amblyopia. “His right eye was turned and not working at all,” she said. With glasses and amblyopia therapy, Seth’s eye turn has been corrected with his vision in that eye returning, and he is now seeing 20/25 with correction.