Check your EYEsight

Gusto mo bang malaman kung kailangan mo ng magpa-appointment sa eye doctor? Subukan mo itong sagutan para malaman. It's a series of 14 questions lang naman. Click lang ang hyperlink sa baba.

20/20 pa ba? 

Impact of the spectacles dispensed to schoolchildren in public schools

Between 3 months to 1 year after spectacles dispensing to schoolchildren, we usually conduct a Monitoring and Evaluation survey of the beneficiaries to measure the impact of the program. 

We interviewed 571 beneficiaries from 8 schools of NCR and Cavite and the chart below is the result. 

It is alarming that majority (41%) of them experienced discomfort while wearing/using their eyeglasses; 35% use it regularly and 4% never used it. 17% either lost the spectacles or it was broken. There's still a 3% though who experienced bullying by using spectacles. 

So what do you think? Is School Eye Health worth continuing? Is it sustainable? Or perhaps, you have a better experience with this, please comment as to what would be your best practice or how do we improve? What do you suggest? How can we make this a priority to key stakeholders? 

We always ask this: from the five senses, what is the most difficult to lose? If your answer is sense of sight, then how come Prevention of Blindness Program has been left under the rag for so long and has never been a program priority of the Department of Health and the Local Government Units? 

It's Sight Saving Month and hey, maybe it's time for you to have your eyes checked.

Eye Health services for Persons Deprived of Liberty

We are happy to be invited to serve the people deprived of liberty in Leyte Regional Prison and its school within the compound. The Supreme Student Government Regional Coordinator of DepEd Leyte and Dr. Maybelle Pajo, optometrist, joined us in the said activity. 

Courtesy call to the prison facility superintendent

orientation before the visual acuity check

refraction

Program before the activity

good to see that the are concerned with their eye health

the team who served

getting the visual acuity using Tumbled E chart

A total of 377 were checked. Of which;

• 206 found to have uncorrected refractive errors
• 2 cataracts
• 4 pterygiums

School Eye and Ear Health @ Leyte National High School

In partnership with Edmund Rice Ministries Foundation, Tacloban City LGU, Dr. Maybelle Pajo and the Regional Office of DOH 8, we conducted an Eye and Ear Screening in Leyte National High School last July 18-19, 2018.

Prior to the event, twelve (12) Supreme Student Government and first aiders were trained on how to use the smartphone based app, PEEK acuity to help the team in pre-screening by getting the visual acuity.

Before the screening started, a lecture/education awareness on the proper care of their eyes and ears were given. Thirty seven (37) sections of Grade VII along with the students under Special Education classes were the beneficiaries. 

Of the 1,338 screened;

• 1,205 were found to have normal vision
• 1 with cataract
• 132 were with uncorrected refractive errors (9.8%)

volunteers for visual acuity testing using the Tumbled E chart

Getting of visual acuity using the smartphone app, PEEK 

the team who came and conquered. ;)

All the 1,338 were also checked for ears and results follow:

• 154 have impacted cerumen (11.5%) all of which were removed and/or treated
• 3 found to have otitis media and were given medication
• 1 found to have fungi and was removed
• 2 found to have perforated ear drums and were referred for further assessment

And this is the usual scenario whenever we conduct eye and ear health testing in schools.

Otoscopy

Looking closely at what could be there inside the ear

Edmund Rice Ministries Foundation doing the otoscopy and removal of impacted cerumen and foreign objects

And one more look at the team who made it all happen. Cheers! ;)