Lions Clubs International did its part for U.S.-China relations – and helped a lot of children in the process – Thursday in Beijing.
Employing relatively new technology never before used in China, Lions volunteers and doctors performed vision screenings on 2,000 children aged 6 months to 4 years, children too young to articulate vision problems.
The technique, known as photoscreening, involves taking two black-and-white images of a child’s eyes. The “photos” are being sent to the Vanderbilt University Reading Center to be analyzed. In 85 to 90 percent of cases, the photoscreenings are effective in detecting problems that can decrease vision. Among the major eye disorders that can be detected are near- and far-sightedness, cataracts and astigmatism.
The screenings were part of Lions World Sight Day, which was started in 1998 by the Oak Brook-based organization to educate the public about the causes and prevention of blindness. For more information on World Sight Day and other vision issues, go to the Lions Clubs’ Web site (www.lionsclubs.org).
