LUMBERTON — The Lumberton Lions Club has a $7,500 camera that can detect vision impairments in children.

David Cox wants to use it to test the eyesight of every child in Robeson County, but first he has to convince parents that the cutting-edge device is more effective than the 154-year-old Snellen chart still used by many ophthalmologists.

“There’s always going to be resistance when it comes to new things,” said Cox, who joined the charitable society in 2007. “A lot of people still think that we’re just taking a picture of their child or that we have to get close to their children, which we don’t.”

The Spot Vision Screener is manufactured by Welch Allyn, a New York company that specializes in medical diagnostic technology. Purchased last year with a grant from Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation, the camera has been used by club members to test more than 3,000 children and adults for vision problems.

It works like this: A patient stands three feet away from the handheld screener and stares at a swirling ball of infrared light. The camera plays a friendly sound effect of birds chirping and snaps 27 photographs of the subject’s eyes. It then scans the images for signs of hyperopia, astigmatism and other impairments.

Heather Walters can vouch for the camera’s accuracy. In November, she received a letter from Southeastern Academy requesting permission to test her son with the machine.

“Without trepidation, we returned the form and didn’t give the screening another thought,” Walters said in an email. “Subsequently, we found out that our child needed to see an optometrist for vision correction. It is difficult for a child to articulate vision problems. The Lions Club gave us answers to a question we hadn’t asked.”

When a reporter from The Robesonian took the test, the device found myopia in both of his eyes. The reporter was previously unaware he suffered from the condition, more commonly known as “nearsightedness.”

Cox says the camera is more accurate than traditional screening methods like charts, which can be gamed by children who memorize the patterns or simply guess the right answers.

He says it’s faster, too. In a 2013 study, the Spot Vision Screener was used to test the vision of 537 elementary school students in just under five hours. Testing with the Snellen chart — which consists of letters that gradually shrink in size — took three days.

“It literally takes seconds to check a child or an adult,” Cox said.

Chartered in 1945, the Lumberton Lions Club has a history of promoting eye care in Robeson County. One of the group’s first projects was placing isolettes in the pediatric department of Robeson County Memorial Hospital, now known as Southeastern Regional Medical Center, to decrease the risk of blindness in infants.

“[The club] provides service for visually impaired young people by purchasing Perkins Brailers, talking calculators and granting educational assistance through scholarships for visually impaired students,” James Martin, president of the club, said in a statement.

According to Cox, the number of vision problems found here has surpassed the average reported by other clubs in North Carolina. He isn’t sure why children in Robeson County are more likely to suffer from poor eyesight, but he suspects it has something to do with the area’s prevalence of diabetes.

Some parents, he says, have been reluctant to embrace the new technology.

“Ninety-five percent of vision problems can be corrected if caught between ages 7 and 8,” he said. “Our goal is to prevent blindness.”

Free tests are administered by the club during screening events at schools and churches. For information, visit lumbertonlions.wordpress.com.

Jaymie Baxley | The Robesonian | The Lumberton Lions Club purchased the Spot Vision Screener last year with a grant from Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation. The $7,500 camera has since been used to test more than 3,000 children and adults for vision impairments.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1__IMG8230-4.jpgJaymie Baxley | The Robesonian | The Lumberton Lions Club purchased the Spot Vision Screener last year with a grant from Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation. The $7,500 camera has since been used to test more than 3,000 children and adults for vision impairments.

Photo by Jim Kirkland | David Cox, left, member of the Lumberton Lions Club, checks a child’s eyesight with the camera as his father Sammy Cox, a fellow Lion, looks on.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_DSC07093-2-3.jpgPhoto by Jim Kirkland | David Cox, left, member of the Lumberton Lions Club, checks a child’s eyesight with the camera as his father Sammy Cox, a fellow Lion, looks on.
Device catches vision impairments in children

By JAYMIE BAXLEY • [email protected]

Features editor Jaymie Baxley can be reached at 910-416-5771 or by email at [email protected].