by Dennis Dalman
Six-year-old Elle Pirius of Sartell is a bright, creative, imaginative girl who had no idea she had astigmatism, nor did her parents – Nikki and Chad Pirius.
Then, one day last year in school when Elle was a kindergartner at Oak Ridge Early Learning Center, the Sartell Lions’ KidSight program discovered Elle’s vision problem, notified her parents, and she’s been wearing a pair of eyeglasses ever since. And she’s doing – and seeing – just fine, thank you.
Astigmatism is an eye condition that causes blurred vision at all distances. It occurs when the cornea or lens of the eye has an abnormal shape, causing light to focus in multiple places. Symptoms can include eye strain, headaches, poor night vision and difficulty focusing on fine details.
Elle is one of 125 elementary-school children found to have one kind or another of vision problems that were discovered during the KidSight eye-testing program last year in Sartell schools.
Most children, not to mention many adults, do not know they have vision problems until they visit an optometrist. That’s because “you don’t know if you don’t know,” as Zachary Dingmann put it. Dingmann, the principal of Sartell’s Riverview Intermediate School, is a member of the Sartell Lions Club and was instrumental in setting up the KidSight program in three Sartell schools last year: Riverview, Oak Ridge Early Learning Center and Pine Meadow Primary School. A total of 1,700 students’ eyesight were tested by KidSight volunteers the last school year. In the current school year, KidSight will be offered again March 4 at Oak Ridge, March 5 at Pine Meadow and March 6 at Riverview.
From its very beginning decades ago Lions International and its many worldwide local clubs have been dedicated to the cause of eye vision for one and all. Those clubs have branched out to many good civic causes, but good vision remains a high priority.
What’s astounding about the KidSight program vision screening is that each screening scan takes only a minimum of two seconds per student. The students, one by one, look into a portable device called the “Baxter Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener.” The screener instantly identifies anomalies in eyesight, including near-sightedness, far-sightedness, cataracts, glaucoma and, as in Elle’s case, astigmatism. Riverview Principal Dingmann, incidentally, was scanned by the “Vision Screener and discovered he has slight astigmatism in his right eye. He has since had lasik surgery to correct that problem.
“It just goes to show you don’t know what you don’t know,” he said during an interview with the Newsleaders. Elle’s mother, Nikki, also participated in the newspaper interview.
“We are so thankful to the KidSight program,” she said. “It identifies (eye/vision) problems early, and then (in Elle’s case) we knew what we had to do. Elle needed glasses to correct for astigmatism. We are very thankful for the program.”
Nikki was so thankful, in fact, that she visited Riverview to give her heartfelt thanks to Principal Dingmann in person.
Parents are informed ahead of time of the KidSight so they have a right to opt out of the program if they so choose. If eye/vision problems are revealed, parents of those students are notified by mail. They then have the option of taking their children to an optometrist to confirm the eyesight problem. Of the 125 students diagnosed with vision concerns last year, the school district does not know how many of those students received follow-up optometry checks, Dingmann noted. The KidSight program is completely confidential.
When the scan tests are performed, there are no eyedrops used and no physical contact with the students. Last year was the first year of KidSight in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District. The program totaled about 60 hours of work by five to seven Sartell Lions Club members at each of the three school sites.
Dingmann praised Carol Breitkreutz, a Lions Club member and Princeton resident, for overseeing the KidSight program and for organizing Lions clubs in the area to come on board with the program. Breitkreutz trained Sartell Lions on how to use the eye scanners, which are owned by the MD5M regional Lions clubs’ district.
Many other school districts, too, have embraced the KidSight program.
“We are super grateful for the Lions Club to take on the (KidSight) endeavor and to give back to the community,” Dingmann said. “The Lions clubs’ motto is ‘We Serve’ – not only adults but kids too.”
Sartell Lions Club President Stu Giffin strongly urges residents to consider joining the Lions Club. Those who may be interested should attend the club’s next meeting Monday, March 3 at G-Allen’s restaurant in Sartell. It’s located at 116 Evergreen Drive just north across the street from the McDonald’s drive-thru. The meeting is open to anyone who wants to find out more about the KidSight program that will take place in Sartell schools March 4-6 or to join the club for other endeavors. The meeting will start with a social hour at 5:30 p.m., with the meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m. The Lions’ eyeglass-recycling effort will also be discussed.
Elle Pirius paused for a photo with Zachary Dingmann, principal of Riverview Elementary School in Sartell. Last year, thanks to the Sartell Lions’ KidSight program, Elle was diagnosed with astigmatism and is now proud and happy with her new corrective eyeglasses. Elle, a first-grader, is the daughter of Nikki and Chad Pirius of Sartell.
