THREE RIVERS — Dr. Adam Goff, optometrist and owner of River Country Eye Care, provided free comprehensive eye and vision exams to any children entering Kindergarten or Young 5’s in the Fall of 2018, during the office’s third annual Kindergarten Eye Exam Day on Saturday, March 17.

About 25 children received eye exams from Goff. A few of those children were fitted for glasses, while one child was diagnosed with an eye condition. Goff said comprehensive eye exams from a doctor are important to ensure good vision, as compared to a vision screening that children may receive through the health department or at their school.

He said vision screenings miss about 30 percent of children with eye problems. So he provided the Kindergarten Eye Exam day “as a service to the community” to ensure that cost would not be an obstacle when it comes to a child’s vision.

“We are looking for problems with vision. Making sure vision is clear, also making sure that their eyes are healthy and that there is not a underlying health problem or a problem with using coordinated eye movements. We make sure that both eyes are working together. Those are the things that are often not checked for during screenings. The majority of vision screenings are simply a check for visual acuity like can the child read down the eye chart? And there is a lot more that goes into it,” Goff said.
Vision is a vital key to learning at school, especially for young students, he said.

“A really big part of learning happens visually, anything from learning to read to simply learning numbers or letters, or following instructions from a teacher. There is so much happening visually that if a child isn’t seeing properly they may start school off cold. We wanted to make sure that they all start off at their best possible potential,” he said.

Firefighters from the Three Rivers Fire Department attended the event to give children tours of the fire truck. Snacks, games, and goodie bags were also provided to patients.

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Samantha May can be reached at 279-7488 ext. 23 or sam@threeriversnews.com.