Lions Club brings back its eye-screening programme

May 4, 2018

Lions Club brings back its
eye-screening programme

PHILIPSBURG–The St. Maarten Lions Club children’s eye-screening project under Immediate Past President Davey Woods will screen some 4,000 public primary school pupils of groups three to eight by Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) International under the theme “Eyes for a Brighter Future.”

The passing of Hurricane Irma postponed the project from November 2017 to May 2018. VOSH is a non-profit organization headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, with a mission to bring “Vision to Every Person on the Planet” since 1971.
The organisation, which has close ties with Lions Club International, will be sending 19 doctors and assistants to St. Maarten along with three fast screening machines to test the eyes of all primary school children pupils while the team of doctors are on the island for one week only.
The Lions Club hosted a press conference about the programme on Thursday morning alongside Minister of Education Jorien Wuite. VOSH will bring and supply eyeglasses on the spot for the children who need glasses. For children who do not receive glasses on the spot because of non-availability or special requirements, VOSH will purchase the prescriptions from the US, Canada or locally within a three-week period.
Airline tickets for the VOSH group were bought for November 2017 and the optometrists and their assistants have to use their tickets before the one-year period expires. They all have reconfirmed their tickets and have submitted their arrival days and times on Saturday and Sunday, May 12-13.
The eye screening of all primary school children is being done by a committee headed by Lion Woods, who has been negotiating with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education for the permits for the doctors and organising with all school managers for the transportation of the schoolchildren to the Belair Community Centre, where the eye screening will take place over a five-day period, Monday through Friday.
To complete the project on time, the St. Maarten Lions Club has requested class deviation and extended school hours from the Ministry of Education for those days. The project is completely free to all schoolchildren, but requires the signed consent of their parents or guardians for the free testing at Belair Community Centre from 7:30am to 4:00pm May 14-18. Parents are requested to fill in the required forms for doctors.
This Sight Project by St. Maarten Lions Club is funded 80 per cent by donations and fundraisings over the past year and through generous donations from various sponsors, while VOSH is handling the balance of the funding.