The Texarkana Noon Lions Club is known for its community service through the annual food drive for Randy Sam's Outreach Shelter and Salvation Army and the scholarship donated to Texarkana College. However, they also have another program that is helping the Texarkana Community to see much clearer.
The club's vice president, Carla Moon, and member Lauren Booker are helping children in the Texarkana community by bringing free eye screenings to where the children are. Last year the Texarkana Noon Lions Club received a grant from United Way to purchase an eye screening machine known as PlusoptiX S12R. With this machine, they are able to screen children ages 6 months to 6 years for eye deformities or diseases.
In less than a minute, parents and guardians can know if their child needs to see an eye doctor.
"All we have to capture is their retina in the vision machine for 30 seconds or less. As long as we can catch them not fluttering and get direct eye contact into the machine, then we are good," said Carla. "Once we test, it reads as pass or fail. Pass is 20/20 vision and fail just means that they need to see the eye doctor."
The machine prints out a receipt to take to an eye doctor.
Lauren and Carla can screen 30 to 40 children an hour using the portable, hand-held screening device. They can do group screenings at daycare facilities and events, as well as single person screenings.
Along with the screening exams, the Lions Club can also help with setting up appointments with eye doctors, getting an eye exam and getting a new pair of glasses.
"We work with several eye doctors in town to help get the appointments and the eyeglasses that the children need, Carla said. "Some of the clinics will work with Lions Club to get a reduced price."
Though insurances often only covers one exam and one pair of glasses per year, Carla said, accidents can happen.
"You might be a single mom, or a dad who lost his job, or maybe your kid broke their glasses playing outside. We can help you," she said. "Some parents have insurance but can't pay the co-pay for getting an exam and a pair of glasses. We can help with that also."
Lions Club is an international organization, but individual clubs determine local needs. The Texarkana club's focus is vision, eye care and eye exams and screenings.
"We hear so many parents tell us that their kids are having headaches and other symptoms and our first question is "Have you had your eyes checked?'" Carla said. "This is a complex machine that we are using. but it has made it simple for us as a civic organization to help our community. It has made it easy to use and get certified."
These eye screenings benefit children from all backgrounds and neighborhoods. "We also help children in foster care," Carla said. "Foster children are sometimes moved from place to place and getting an eye exam is not on the top of the list of things to do. Sometimes the children may leave their glasses at the last foster home or they have forgotten to get them before they moved again. We can help those children, too."
Lauren Booker believes that testing a child's eyesight before they start school is important.
"If we can catch any vision issues before the children start school, it can really benefit them when they get in a classroom setting," Lauren said.
Taking donations of unused eyeglasses has been Lions Club International tradition. These glasses can be donated locally by dropping them off at an eye clinic with the Lion's Club eyeglass donation box. Donations are also accepted at One Love Yoga on Richmond Road. The glasses are then picked up by a club member and sent to the headquarters for cleaning, prescription diagnosis and repackaging.
Lions clubs all over the nation can request glasses for an individual in need in their community. When there is an influx of the same prescription, International sends them to countries all over the world.
(For more information regarding free eye screenings, please contact Carla and Lauren by visiting their Facebook page or emailing them at [email protected].)
(The Noon Lions Club is looking for adult volunteers. For more information about the Texarkana Noon Lions Club find them on Facebook or email at the above address.)