The House Springs Lions Club will offer free vision screenings and recycled eyeglasses this Saturday at its first “Eye Mission” event.
The Lions will be at the House Springs Knights of Columbus Hall, 6800 Knights of Columbus Lane, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to check eyes. Organizer Jim McDermott said walk-ins are welcome.
“This is just a great resource,” he said. “Even for people with health care, so many people don’t have coverage. I hope we can reach a lot of people and make this event a success and help restore some vision for people.”
The Lions Club will have several machines in the hall to run tests on people’s eyes and to read their prescriptions. Once the tests are run, Matthew Lazarus, an optometrist and owner of Lazarus Eye Care in High Ridge, will review the results and either fit the person with a new pair of glasses or refer him or her to a specialist.
McDermott said when he brought up the idea of hosting an Eye Mission in the area, Lazarus got “on board immediately.” The Lions set up eyeglass donation boxes in Lazarus’ office and other local businesses, with the donations going toward the event.
The glasses are sent to a laboratory in Jefferson City, where they are sanitized, buffed and the prescription is determined. The glasses are then sorted by prescription strength and sent back to the Lions Club. The club has prescription strength glasses, kids’ size glasses, readers, bifocals, trifocals, sunglasses and protective cases.
“We have cases upon cases of eyeglasses all sorted out,” McDermott said. “Hopefully, when they try them on, the glasses will look like new again.”
At the event, Lions Club members will use a tonometer machine that measures the pressure inside the eye, which could be an indicator of glaucoma. If the person has high pressure, he or she will be referred out to a doctor, he said.
A Titmus V4 Vision Screener will be used to check a person’s peripheral vision and whether he or she is color blind. Finally, a spot camera will be used to detect other abnormalities in the eye. It also reads the person’s prescription.
McDermott said Lazarus will review the test results, and he “gets the final say” on the best course of action for the person.
McDermott said he helped the St. Clair Lions Club at a recent Eye Mission and was inspired to organize one for his club.
“I was running one test where they looked into a machine and read the colors to check peripheral vision, and then read the eye chart,” he said. “It blew my mind to see the smiles on their faces when they got a pair of glasses, and they could actually see something.”
McDermott said all are welcome at the event to have their vision screened free of charge. Flyers were sent home with students in the Northwest R-1 School District with information about the Eye Mission, and McDermott said he sent e-mails to local businesses and organizations letting them know the event was happening.
For information, call McDermott at 314-401-3964.
The Knights of Columbus allowed the Lions to use its event hall for free, McDermott said.
“That’s a big deal because this whole thing is to help the public,” he said. “I’m really hopeful we get a nice turnout. As Lions, we’re here to serve.”