CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Debi Estabrook, Marshalltown Evening Lion’s Club, displays the equipment used to help members perform vision screenings on children from six months to six years old at a recent Twentieth Century meeting.

The Twentieth Century Club met on Oct. 27 at MAAC with guest speaker Debi Estabrook from the Marshalltown Evening Lion’s Club on Kid’s Sight First.

Estabrook shared that A Joint Project of the Lions Clubs of Iowa and the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa Health Care work together to provide testing of children’s eyes from six months old to six years old at the Marshalltown Schools and Day Care Schools, free of charge.

Vision Screening has helped children to be screened for eye problems of varies types by taking two pictures of their eyes with a special camera. The eyes must have a 4-millimeter image which is sent to Iowa City Hospital with the child’s information. Iowa City reviews all pictures and notifies the school which the child attends or the Day Care, if the child needs to be seen by an Ophthalmologist for eye corrections.

A packet is sent from Iowa City Hospital for each child that needs to be seen by their Ophthalmologist and the packet is given by the school Nurse to give the child’s parents. A follow up is done by Iowa City with the parents in three months, if Iowa City has not had any reply from the parents that the child has seen an eye doctor, then Iowa City contacts the child’s parents directly.

The special eye cameras cost $10,000 each but now they are at a cost of $15,000 each. Lion’s test at a total of twenty-three schools and Day Care Centers locally and screen more than 1,000 children each year.

Coordinator for Twentieth Century was Karen Shipley-Cooper and the Refreshment Committee of: Josette Peterson, chairperson; Maureen Loney and Karen Giarratano with 28 members in attendance.