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UNMC College of Public Health was proud to host child vision screenings for the second year in a row.

Childrne holding new eyeglasses

Omaha Public Schools students who participated in the OneSight Vision Van event. screenings at COPH

Public Health Practice –  The UNMC College of Public Health was proud to host child vision screenings for the second year in a row. This year’s screenings, provided by OneSight and coordinated by Omaha’s Child Vision Collaborative http://www.buildinghealthyfutures.org/child-vision-collaborative/ reached 637 students from Omaha Public Schools.

young girl with glasses giving thumbs upThe OneSight Vision Van event was held March 20-24 at UNMC’s College of Public Health. This event gave prescreened Omaha Public Schools students the opportunity to have comprehensive eye examinations provided free of charge. OneSight representatives, Omaha’s Child Vision Collaborative members, and volunteers came together to provide this opportunity. Youth that participated in this event went through a series of tests strategically sequenced in stations. Vision health professionals tested student’s visual acuity, muscle balance, color and depth perception, and auto refraction. Most of the 437 youth that needed glasses received a free pair on the same day as their testing. Others, requiring prescriptions that were too strong to make onsite, received their glasses about 2 weeks after the event.

Child with new glasses on“This is the best day of my life!” exclaimed a Kennedy Elementary student who was wearing a new pair of glasses. Yadira Servellon, District Translator for Omaha Public Schools, who volunteered her services to assist students, stated, “The work that you guys do really makes a difference. I asked a couple of kids, and they were all ecstatic that they were able to see better.”

OneSight is an independent nonprofit that provides accessibility to visual care to underserved communities across the nation and worldwide. For more information on OneSight, please visit https://onesight.org/.

This article was written by Kailey Kocourek, Program Assistant, Building Health Futures

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