Goodwill looking for vision screeners

Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries’ Amblyopia Vision Screening Program is in need of volunteers to help reach as many preschool children as possible during the upcoming school year.

Trained vision screeners go into preschools in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties and screen children for amblyopia.

Training, all necessary materials and even partners are provided for the screenings.

The screenings are scheduled during morning or afternoons, Monday through Friday and according to the volunteer’s availability.

Sessions generally take about two hours. All scheduling and follow-up is handled by the program coordinator.

Amblyopia, commonly known as “lazy eye” is reduced vision in an eye resulting when the pathways of vision in the brain do not grow strong enough.

Anything that interferes with clear vision in either eye during the critical birth to age 6 visual development period can cause amblyopia, and neither child, nor parent may know there is a problem until screening is provided.

If not detected and corrected early enough, an amblyopic eye may never develop good vision and may become functionally blind.

Early detection and treatment can correct an eye, which may be too damaged to correct at a later age.

Upon detecting a possible vision problem, the child’s family is contacted and urged to take the child for a complete professional exam.

Financial assistance is available for treatment for qualified families.

Volunteer training is scheduled for Sept. 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Goodwill facility on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown.

Danielle Michaels from the Ohio Department of Health in Columbus will conduct the training session which is mandatory for all program vision screeners.

Of the 2,520 children screened during the last school year, 430 were referred for follow-up treatment.