Unifour Children's Sight Bulletin Board

Vision Screeners 

Hope everyone is enjoying this first day of fall with a cooler temperature of 91 degrees??

 

Over the last few weeks several clubs have been very active in conducting children screenings along with making plans for several more during the last quarter of 2024.  Please take a few minutes with your club at your next meeting to reflect on the importance of what you are doing in helping our Unifour children have access to proper vision which can lead to major changes in their life. Your efforts truly exemplify our Lions Motto "We Serve". 

 

Also, over the last few weeks NC Lions have lost a key asset of our program, the VSP funding voucher. Currently there is no information on when or if the program may return, which leaves us at a huge disadvantage in helping children and seniors in need of financial assistance to acquire glasses.  But one thing I have learned is when one door shuts there will always be another one open. And with this situation our Unifour Childrens Sight program has had several doors opened to allow us to continue our assistance program. 

 

Literally,  the week we lost the VSP program a Longview community business owner had come to the Longview club with a $10k donation for the club to use in helping Longview families with vision financial assistance. We met with her and explained what had just happened with our VSP program and she opened up her assistance to any child in the Unifour area who is screened by one of the Unifour Children Sight clubs. Guidelines of the program will be listed below.

 

At our first senior screening event with Mt Sinai Baptist Church we were informed about a program by the Council of Aging that LensCrafters has available. In meeting with the local office manager, we learned that they do have a program that supports local 501c3  nonprofits in helping persons in acquiring  vision assistance. Guidelines of the program are also listed below. 

 

We have been blessed with great partners in our vision program especially our Optometrist group who volunteer with our senior screenings and our partner Good Samaritan Clinic. Without Dr Alan Winsett, Donald & Elizabeth York and Dr. Nathan Hitt we could not have the leading quality program we have. Currently 'Vision First' is also working with the UCS clubs along with using the Essilor program to furnish glasses to the USC clubs at a huge discount and also support the new children's assistance program.  

 

Lastly,  we also have available the NC Eyes program through DSS which is handled through our local DSS representative. This program is similar to the old VSP program except more cuberson to use but is there as a last resort.

 

Below are the guidelines of each program, if you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

 

Benefield Vision Fund:

Program is to be used with assisting children ages 6 months through 19 years, no adults. The fund has enough funds to cover 29 kids for the remainder of 2024 with any leftover funds moved to the 2025 year. The guidelines are similar to income requirements of the VSP program except more lenient to allow for the local family income levels. The program will be administered through Terry Hall of the Long View Club and vision services provided by First Vision  using the Essilor program. 

 

LensCrafters Program:

This program is for all ages but we would like to utilize the Benefield Fund first. This is because our goal is to solicit the business community to contribute to this fund so it can continue for many more years, especially with the uncertainty of the VSP program. The Lenscrafter program requires a referral letter from the UCS program along with a copy of our 501c3 documents to be able to schedule a referred patient. As with the children's program we have developed a guideline and application form for certifying the patients needs. 

 

USC Partnership Program:

Our vision partner 'Vision First' has agreed to help the USC clubs in continuing financial support to our community. They have agreed to give UCS Clubs a reduced rate and using the Essilor program provide a set of glasses for $70.00. 

 

If you have any questions or would like the forms to submit an application please call or email me.

Thanks, Wayne Houser

 

 

Vision Partnership

Members of the Unifour Childrens Sight steering group held its May meeting in
the conference room of the Good Samaritan Clinic along with guest Curtis
Erickson. Curtis attended our meeting to do a demonstration of the Spot camera
by Welch Alyan so the group could compare it features to the PluOptix which we
now use.
During our business meeting and demonstration, we paused to visit Dr Winesett
at work in the Good Samaritan Vision examination room. The examination room
was the result of the partnership formed between the Unifour Childrens Sight
program and the Good Samaritan Clinic. In 2022 the Clinic came to a children’s
screening at the Enola Head Start day care asking for our assistance in completing
their vision examination room. Well, through a sharing of both our organization’s
resources the clinic exam room was opened in early May and has now completed
two screening days in which twenty-four patients were examined and eighteen
prescriptions filled using the Essilor program. The partnership is testimony that
when good people work together there is no limit to what can be accomplished.
Benefits that have came into place for both organizations due to the partnership
are such that neither could have achieved on their own. The Unifour Childrens
Sight program now has access to the Clinic’s mobile screening unit for outside
screenings along with access to the Clinic’s free examination room. Also, with
sponsoring the Essilor program we also have a backup source for glasses if the
need arises. The Good Samaritan Clinic now has it’s completed examination room
along with the Essilor program for its patients’ glasses at no cost and a volunteer
group to help conduct on site field vision triage screenings at night.
Our programs crossed paths not by accident but because a power far greater had
his hand on our shoulder leading us to “Serve Others”. So, I encourage the Lions of
District 31L to step forward and join the KidSight screening program and serve the
children of our community. There is no excuse you can offer for not joining, all the
tools have been laid out for you, all is lacking is your willingness to serve others.
Wayne Houser
Unifour Childrens Sight

 

Article to appear in the WNC District 31L newsletter for March, 2024

 

Miracles do Happen! 

As Lions we have the rare opportunity to occasionally experience a true miracle in our service to the community. At a recent children's vision screening on a Sunday afternoon we were blessed to experience one. At first we thought  it was just a calamity of errors that fell into place but when we stood back and looked at the whole situation we realized that that wasn't the case, someone had his hand on our shoulder and guided us in every step we took. 

The event was a childrens screening at Mt Sinai Community Baptist Church. The reason it came about was an accidental phone butt dial to Pastor Gray which led into a conversation about conducting a children's screening at his church. Dates and times were discussed with follow up discussion planned prior to the event date. Well a call came from Pastor Gray's assistant on Wednesday stating they were ready and what time we would be there on Sunday. Well due to the late notice I asked if we could reschedule as we didn't have volunteers in place. Well Pastor Gray is very persuasive and let me know he already had over twenty kids lined up along several other churches from the community also sending kids. So I sent out an email to our club asking for volunteers and seven responded that they would be there. On Sunday we ended up screening fifty two kids and referred several for follow up examinations. One screening in particular stood out and the mother was gracious in sharing her story below. So once you have read her story you can see that sometimes what we might consider a calamity of errors is actually God's hand on our shoulder helping us in serving others. I am appealing to you as a Lion to reach out and serve your community with screening children by joining the NCLF KidSight program.  Miracles are real, let yourself be there when it happens. 

Wayne

 

 Hi Wayne, after Ian’s initial eye exam through the Lions Club at Mt. Sinai, I was given a referral. The next day I contacted Connie who was very helpful in letting me know what my next steps should be and also what ophthalmologist I could get a follow-up exam with in the vsp network. I was so fortunate to get Ian in that same day with Graystone eye and they confirmed the Lions club findings. As it turns out Ian is farsighted. 

     If it wasn’t for Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and the Lions Club it may have been months or even years before I knew about the eye problems Ian has. He has taken eye exams with the eye chart before, but he has never had an exam with the eye machine. Untreated, his eye sight could have gotten progressively worse. He may have even started to develop problems in school with his learning and school work because of problems with his vision. I am so thankful for the Lions club and their eye exam program because without them, my son's future could have been greatly affected. I could never say thank you enough. After Ian’s visit with Graystone Eye, I reached out to Pastor Gray and also Connie to let them know how much I appreciate them and everything that was done for Ian. Have a blessed day.

 

Alysia W.

Good Samaritan Clinic/Vision Examination Room:

Over the last few weeks funds have been secured to purchase the equipment to complete the vision examination room. Big thanks to Dr. Winesett for his time in assisting the Good Samaritan staff in determing the equipment needed. Currently we have four local Optometrist who have offered their time in volunteering at the clinic when opened in filling the most important aspect of this project. Along with the equipment and Optometrist we have been able to join the Essilor program which will furnish the glasses to the patients at no charge. The clinic received thirty pair of frames to be used in the examination process in which the patients will be test fitted and then along with the prescription be ordered by email with delivery to the clinic in approximately two weeks. A huge thanks to our Optometrist, Unifour Children Sight staff and the Good Samaritan Clinic staff in making this great community project ideal a reality! For both the Unifour Childrens Sight group and the Good Samaritan Clinic this partnership will allow both access to programs that neither would have been able to access on their own. A true partnership where the most in-need segment of our community will be able to have access to free vision health care where it did not exist before.

 

Unifour Childrens Screening Results for 2023:

For our year starting in January and running through November the Unifour Childrens Sight program screened over 1660 kids at 42 events. At some events the number was as low as 6 with some being over 160, which shows that cumulative numbers were not as important as making our service available where it was needed. More importantly was the number 261, which was the number of kids we referred, notifying parents that their child need an in office exam at an Optical facility and making them aware financial assistance was available if needed.

 

Needed Assistance in Glasses Collection:

At our last steering group committee meeting we discussed three needs that we would like to ask for the clubs help in used glasses collection. One was the need of sunglasses to be used by the Good Samaritan Clinic to supply to migrant farm workers when they perform field health assessments. An item we consider a small luxury is a critical need for them as most come here to work and have no access to. Second was when clubs collect used glasses please retain the reader glasses so we can distribute them to the senoir citizen community in our area, so many don't have access to them and in some case not aware of how these simple readers could help them in their daily activities. Third items was for clubs to sort their collections for possible childrens glasses which could be collected to help in repair of childrens glasses. We have seen an increase in parents asking for assistance in repairing their childrens glasses which are broken in normal kid activities and hoping if we have a source we may be able to conduct repairs without using the VSP program. 

 

2024/2025 Van Usage Program:

We are working on a program with the hope that we will be able to lower the 2023 sponsoring clubs yearly usage fee to $50.00 along with incentives to the clubs. This program would require the club's help to canvass their community for possible corportate or business partners in this endevor. Many may be reluctant but we feel that with our results over the last year finding sponsors will be fairly easy especially when we are able to inform them of our results and the variance of communities we were able to serve. Details will be sent out to the vision cordinators along with the club presidents over the next few weeks.  

Thanks to everyone who helped with screening kids in 2023, it was a success not so much for our program but for the kids we were able to help!

Hi Fellow Lions

We are looking for volunteers to walk the parade route behind the Unifour Childrens Sight vision screening van. Only requirement is you are able to walk the approximate 1.2 mile route over a 1 hour time range and wear your Lions insigina items.

Thanks, Wayne

We a doing a children's vision screening at the Salvation Army starting at 2 pm on Thursday November 9 and could use some more volunteers. Contact me if you'd like to help. Wayne.