FREE VISION SCREENING APRIL 7, 2017
A free FocusFirst vision screening is being offered at your childcare center. FocusFirst has screened more than 310,000 children. Of those screened, over 32,500 were suffering from undetected vision problems. Undetected vision problems can lead to difficulty in the classroom, slow social development, and, in some cases, permanent blindness. A FocusFirst vision screening can help to ensure that your child has a healthy start to life.
- The screening is high-tech and non-invasive; we simply take a photograph of your child’s eyes with a digital camera.
- If a potential vision problem is detected, you will have access to free or low-cost eye care.
- If your child already wears glasses, the screening will confirm that the glasses are the correct prescription.
For more information, call (850) 487-0262.
Note: This program is based on a screening process; it is not diagnostic. Screening is intended to identify children with a wide range of eye problems who should seek the services of an eye-care professional for examination and diagnosis. As with any screening process, there is no assurance that all problems will be detected. Eye problems not detected by this screening process include diseases affecting the retina and optic nerve, glaucoma, certain forms of astigmatism and color blindness. No screening process, including that of FocusFirst, is a substitute for a full examination by a qualified eye-care professional.
About
Text courtesy of Focus First and aao.org
Hundreds of thousands of children across the nation suffer from poor vision each year, leading to reduced academic performance, a substandard education, and low self-esteem. We know that vision screenings are most effective during the preschool years, when early identification and treatment of many conditions can prevent irreversible vision damage or loss. Unfortunately, many preschool-age children are known to need eye care, but go without it.This is largely due to two things: poor public awareness about the importance of eye care in young children, and the inability of children to recognize their own vision problems. And for families from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, these problems are exacerbated by financial hardship and lack of access to appropriate medical care.
Plus, many child care centers utilize traditional eye charts to screen their children for vision problems—even though eye charts are a notoriously unreliable method of detecting vision problems in young children, and cannot detect significant problems such as amblyopia (lazy eye) or cataracts. FocusFirst utilizes high-tech screening cameras that can not only detect a much wider range of problems in preschoolers, but are far more time efficient than traditional screening methods and have a significantly higher positive predictive value in 3- and 4-year-old children.
School-based health centers (SBHCs) have become an important method of health care delivery for school-age children. Several models of vision screening and follow-up care have evolved to provide eye care in schools. Vision screening in schools provides an opportunity for efficiently screening many children. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) offers an instructive video of AAPOS recommendations. However, school screening requirements and recommendations differ by state. Most states recommend that children entering school undergo vision screening. Government supported preschool programs such as Head Start provide vision screening for preschool-aged children.