On July 4, members of the Columbus Lions Club set up shop in the Polk County Courthouse and checked the eyesight of 113 men, women and children ranging in age from 11 months to 84 years old.
All day long, as folks celebrated American independence at the Columbus Fabulous Fourth, they also took time to drop by the courthouse for a vision check.
The Lions had recently become the proud owner of the newest technology in vision screening-the Spot Camera. There are no charts to read; patients simply sit down and look into the front of the camera. Spot then takes a series of measurements of the patients’ eyes using infrared light; all within a couple of seconds.
Spot, which is a computer as well as a camera, then analyzes the measurements to determine if there are any problems.
Conditions that can be diagnosed include near- and far-sightedness, unequal refractive power, eye structure problems, pupil size deviations and eye misalignment.
Each person screened on July 4 was given a printed sheet that detailed the camera’s findings. If further evaluation was indicated, the patient was instructed to see their eye professional and take the printout with them.
Many of those tested expressed their surprise and pleasure that they were in and out within five minutes.
Because no one has to read an eye chart, Spot works well for those who speak a language other than the one spoken by the person administering the test. It is also ideal for children—even those as young as 6 months old—both because it takes only a few seconds to complete and because it diagnoses the type of problems that must be corrected before school age.
If you have a group or organization that would like to have their vision tested by the Lions, contact Columbus Lion Fran Goodwin at 828-894-2505.

– article submitted
by Helen Trevathan