Giving Children The World To See is the official name of the project that the Lions Clubs of District 4L6 are working on with the UCSD Shiley Eye Center, and we believe that it is perhaps the most significant project we have ever undertaken. Studies carried out in Dallas and New York have shown that as many as 500,000 children per year, 6 and older, develop permanent vision loss. A very large percentage of those children, about 80%, could have had that condition arrested or even cured if they had been diagnosed early enough. Our goal is to screen all children in San Diego County under the age of 5 years old. For this purpose we have developed a mobile unit to go directly to the children, at multiple locations throughout the County.

The current target group is made up of those kids who come from low income families, and who obviously have less or no access to adequate healthcare. The project currently works with San Diego Headstart Programs to identify these kids. Early results would seem to show statistically that these kids have more than double the normal risk of developing permanent vision loss. These children will develop academic handicaps simply because they can't see well enough. And at the risk of seeming overly dramatic, what is likely to happen to a teenager from a low income background with poor academic performance?

As a result of many people working very hard for more than two years to bring this project to the forefront, it gives us great pleasure to say that all of that hard work has paid off. With the undoubted influence of Lions International President Kay Fukushima to help us, the LIONS CLUB INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION has committed to grant funds of $200,000 over the next 3 years with commitments from the San Diego Downtown Host Lions Club, North Park Lions Club, and the Rancho Bernardo Lions Club which will help satisfy the requirement to contribute matching funds of $68,000 over that same time frame. We have already presented a check for $63,000 to the UCSD Shiley Eye Center from that grant, which when added to the $12,000 that UCSD has given, and the

$17,500 that the Host Club has given, means that more than $90,000 is already being used to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens, the very young.

It is crucial to remember that this is a three-part process. The first part is a new screening procedure, using a state of the art digital camera and specially developed software which has been calibrated for use on 3 - 5 year olds. This will tell the screeners if further attention is required. The second stage is the actual diagnosis. This is carried out in either the project's own Eyemobile, or at the Shiley Eye Center. The child will then be provided with eyeglasses or a patch, normally within 48 hours, (at no charge for the low income kids), or further treatment will be scheduled at the Shiley Eye Center. (Again, at no charge if necessary.) The third part is the education and follow up with the child and the parents. Providing the eye care is of no use if the child is not allowed to wear their glasses because of cultural or environmental concerns. It is this follow up, on top of the advanced screening procedures, which make this such a unique program.

The LCIF Grant will go a long way to helping us achieve our initial goal, but additional funding will be needed if we really want to make an impact and shorten the timeframe necessary to complete one "Cycle" around San Diego and Imperial Counties, which encompass our Lions "District". Given the current resources available, it will take more than five years to reach every child within the target group, let alone open the program up to all children. If we can double the current resources, we can reduce that time frame to below two years. Every child that we miss in the next couple of years could be the child that needs us the most.

If you would like more information

Where the Eyemobile will be in the community, or on how to become a volunteer, please contact Lion Jeff Barr at jbarr@ucsd.edu.

If you would like to make a donation to this project, please contact Lion John Morman, jmorman@cox.net for more information on how to make your tax exempt personal donation to this most worthy project.