Robert and Susan Eyton are looking for volunteers to help other people be able to look.
The Eyton’s are both members of the Lions Club and are searching for people to help run Lions eye health screening program in Wyndham.
The program, which provides free eye screenings for children aged three and above in order to detect vision problems, is common in other parts of Victoria, but has only previously held one-off screenings in Wyndham.
But now with the program set to roll out across the entire municipality, the Eytons held a familiarisation meeting for prospective volunteers at the Werribee Lions Club on Thursday evening.
“This is stage one of the Wyndham children’s vision screening team that’s being established now for this area,” said Mr Eyton of the June 20 meeting where the vision screening program was explained and equipment demonstrated.
While Mr Eyton is the secretary of the Point Cook Lions Club, his wife Susan is the expert when it comes to the vision screening.
Ms Eyton is the state representative for the Lions eye health program.
“We’re obviously looking for people committed to making a difference, that’s why most people join Lions clubs and who are available some time during the day so they can screen at schools,” she said.
“You don’t need any special skills at all.”
While school visits were the most common and efficient way of conducting the screenings, Ms Eyton said they could held elsewhere too.
“We will basically screen wherever. We’re looking for opportunities to screen so whether it’s cadets, scouts, girl guides, we don’t worry where it is, we’re just really keen to try find these kids, one in five with a previously undetected vision issue.”
To identify those issues, the vision screening program uses four pieces of equipment: a lea chart for blurred vision, coloured cards for colour blindness, a stereo fly for depth perception and a vision spotter for stigmatisms, long or short sightedness and gaze problems.
Ms Eyton said the earlier these issues were detected, the easier they could be fixed, highlighting a lady she met at a recent screening as an example of what can happen if vision problems go untreated.
“One lady whose now in her 80’s, she was told she had a lazy eye when she was at school and after the age of seven, you can’t treat that, so she’s blind in one eye.”
Details: robeyton@bigpond.com
Cade Lucas
