Optometry Students Helping Area Hispanics With Free Eye Clinic

U.H. Daily Cougar
Tuesday, March 6, 1990

Optometry students helping area Hispanics with free eye clinic

by Ben Alcalá
Daily Cougar Staff

 
Obtaining proper eye care has never been easy for many Hispanic children from low-income families. Even the cost of a simple eye exam is beyond the limited financial means of their parents.

In an attempt to do something about this problem, the U.H. chapter of the National Optometry Students' Association. (NOSA), held a free eye-screening clinic for students at J.P. Henderson Elementary located in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. The clinic was organized by NOSA President Peter Peña, with help from Enrique Medrano, director of admissions and student affairs for the College of Optometry.

While the College of Optometry conducts vision screening clinics as part of the students' clinical course work, the clinic conducted at Henderson Elementary was a volunteer effort. "Henderson was chosen because it is an underserved community and because it is up to the minority students at U.H. to do something for the minority community," Peña said. NOSA has adopted Henderson and will attempt to go there every semester to conduct clinics, he said.

Jose Macedo, an optometry student, performs a glaucoma test on fifth grader Vanessa Rivera.
Photo by Ben Alcalá

The children were pre-screened by the school nurse to identify the ones who needed further testing. The children who failed the pre-screen were given a series of tests by the optometry students to determine who needed a complete eye examination. Associate Dean of Optometry Jerald Strickland has agreed to pro provide free tests to those children in need of more comprehensive testing. In addition to the standard visual acuity test, the students perfumed an ocular history, as well as a test to see if the eyes worked together.

Norman Bailey, chair of the East-End Lions Club, has promised the club will attempt to obtain free glasses to those children who are found to be in need of them. Peña said there is a government funded program, called the School Spec Program, which partially subsidizes low-income families who need to obtain glasses for their children.

Visiting Assistant Professor Bernie Maslovitz and Assistant Professor Phillip Aitsebaomo supervised the students as they conducted the eye-screening clinic. Maslovitz said the clinic provided "an important service to the community, while allowing students to gain experience and to improve their skills." Maslovitz said he was pleased by the fairly low number of false positives on the pre-screening, stating that about 70 percent of the children referred to them were found to need further testing.

 

Originally posted Monday, February 02 2004 @ 10:46 PM UTC