300 free eye screenings in Eye Care Awareness Month

IN the week of 26 to 31 October, Bright Eyes Centre in Berea will be providing over 300 vision screenings to vulnerable children at no cost to the organisations caring for them.

Carron Strachan, co-founder of Bright Eyes Centre, said at the end of 2019 Bright Eyes put out a call for funding for a project she and co-founder Cathryn Aylett felt could impact eye care for many children in 2020. The women said thanks to a longstanding loyal donor they are able to roll out this mass screening campaign.

“The Bheka Project is a drive to ensure that children in vulnerable communities receive essential early intervention services and vision screenings from as early as six months old. Through the Bheka Project we aim to identify vision disorders early, facilitate the early intervention process allowing us to provide training to parents, caregivers and teachers on early intervention strategies to ensure optimal development in children with vision disorders. Through early intervention we aim to reduce the number of children unable to access early childhood education due to vision loss or developmental delays as a result of lack of stimulation,” said Carron.

The revolutionary technology provided by plusoptiX makes this possible for the first time in South Africa.

“Bright Eyes Centre partnered with Peek A Vu, who have provided access to the plusoptiX S12C vision screening device through a trained vision screening agent allowing us to screen over 300 children delivering instant results safely and efficiently,” said Carron.

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On average, one in four children under the age of five and one in 20 children overall has an undetected vision disorder.

“Unless there is an obvious visual disorder, these vision disorders often go undetected. Affected children do not realise that their vision is compromised. This is because that is how they are accustomed to seeing the world. Even if they are aware, they often lack the ability to verbalise any difficulties they may be having. These vision disorders are then discovered when it is too late to aid the development of that child’s visual system,” said Cathryn.

The women said it is therefore of critical importance that children have their eyes tested for Amblyogenic risk factors annually, from age one year onwards.

Bright Eyes Centre has identified various groups and organisations who are currently running early intervention projects in the underserviced areas of Kwazulu-Natal.

“We aim to establish a working relationship with communities providing annual screenings to vulnerable children ensuring that their eye health is maintained,” said Carron.

Contact Bright Eyes Centre on 031 201 1951 or email carron@brighteyes.co.za.  

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