About Us
Lions KidSight USA is a nation-wide program bringing Lions clubs across the country together to ensure our children receive eye screenings and follow-up care when needed. We train and mobilize caring people to be able to easily and efficiently screen the vision health of our nation’s youngest, dearest, and most vulnerable children to help ensure they receive early academic and social development success that we all deserve — guided by the fact that 80% of a child’s learning and development requires healthy, corrected vision.
We also maintain a national database of annual vision screening results, assess the continuing technology developments in the field of childhood vision screening & correction, and promote rigorous national standards and continuing visual health research & development when it concerns our nation’s youth - our entire future.
Core Values
We believe very strongly from years of experience that early childhood vision screening- and correction of poor vision - is one of the most effective and cost-efficient health care interventions in the entire world.
We provide vision screening to children as young as six months and through grade 12.
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We’re national – we’ve created a coordinated national coalition of active and experienced Lions vision screeners.
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We’re needed – vision problems undetected by the age of 7 can become permanent.
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We’re concerned – How many millions of kids now have worsening eyesight from prolonged “screen time", in 2020?
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We're FREE - Vision Screenings are conducted by Lions Volunteers who have been trained in the proper use of Touchless Screening Devices.
Technology
While basic eye-chart screenings have been around since 1899 - and we use eye chart screenings in our own EyeCare practices - eye chart screenings have some limitations when used for large-scale children’s vision screenings.
Eye chart testing can be subjective and relies on a well-trained school staff person as well as a very cooperative student in order to produce quick, reliable results. Eye chart screenings can miss such potential issues, such as farsightedness, amblyopia factors, low-grade cases of myopia and astigmatism. In contrast, the digital, touch-less technology used in our primary screening devices is highly accurate, automatic and reliable. Our testing systems also provide immediate results.
Our International All-Volunteer Board
The board of directors of LionsKidSight USA includes two seasoned lifelong optometrists, as well as a board-certified ophthalmologist. Together, they have over 100 years of professional eye care experience in both professional practice and academic settings.
Despite our name, we are also international. We have provided technical guidance and hands-on training to Lions KidSight programs in several other countries. Lions in The UK, Columbia, Belize, India and Argentina are screening children and protecting their vision. In addition, several of the board members have led and been part of Lions Eye Care Missions in many underserved nations around the world. We know firsthand, the importance of quick & efficient screening methods. We are making a difference in the lives of millions of kids.
The U.S.- based Executive Officers of Lions Clubs International (LCI) are automatically board members for their respective terms in the Lions International Office. It’s a lean national standards body, but very experienced, goal-oriented and all-volunteer as well.
Lions KidSight USA Foundation USA is a legally incorporated nonprofit organization, a fully tax-exempt 501-C3 charity. We are closely affiliated with our partners at Lions Clubs International and are licensed by the association in terms of trademarks and copyrights. We rely on - and work with - individual Lions Clubs across the country and affiliated Lions KidSight organizations in pursuit of our voluntary, shared mission.
LIONS KidSight USA Foundation History & Origin
The beginnings of the Lions KidSight USA Foundation International Board took root in the late 1990s, when the first generation of analog vision-screening technology was starting to flourish. The board was officially formed with members appointed in 2014.
Since that time, the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) has awarded significant grant funding to start up a dozen statewide programs. Our friends at the Tennessee Lions Children’s Eye Center (Vanderbilt Univ.), the University of Iowa Ophthalmology Department, University of Colorado and Indiana University were all instrumental in making this next-generation digital vision-screening technology possible.
Even deeper into history if you’re a buff, the Lions Clubs commitment to sight preservation took root in the early 1920s when Helen Keller called upon Lions Clubs International and its soon to be millions of members to “Be the Knights of the Blind”.
We’re still rolling, over 100 years later…
