I can smile about it now. But back in the day when I was trying to keep glasses on an 18-month-old, there were times I was in tears. Like the already-hectic Christmas Eve spent tearing the house apart in search of tiny red wire rims, which later turned up inside a Fisher-Price “Little People” ga rage. Or the Sunday afternoon at Brookfield Zoo when his eyewear was flung into one of the primate cages. Or that Thanksgiving road trip to my hometown when I sent his father into a burning vehicle to retrieve the toddler’s glasses after the engine caught on fire. I can remember at least one tearful phone call to his pediatric ophthalmologist declaring “I give up … I can’t keep these darn glasses on his face.” I also recall his answer. “Be patient. It will come. It is important that he wear them.” The doctor’s last sentence pretty much sums up why people like Gabby Gaytan, parent educator at Family Focus, and Susan Koepke, past president of the Aurora Lions Club, are so passionate about the service organization’s push to grow the preschool numbers of its Children’s Vision Program. Awareness is definitely on the rise, both women insist, with Koepke describing the past few months in particular as “exciting” in terms of community partnerships. Those not only include Aurora City Council members, several schools, Family Focus and the Aurora Public Library, where screenings for children are held monthly, but more recently Aurora University, which has supplied graduate interns to help with the website, flyers, letters and other outreach efforts; Midwestern University’s Doctor of Optometry Program; and Companeros en Salud (Partners in Health). The goal is to increase the number of screenings in the 0-3 age group, which remains low in large part, Gaytan suggested, because it’s tough to keep eyewear on children so small. “The main challenge,” she said, “is getting past the notion they are too young to wear glasses.” Plus, parents often don’t understand the importance of early screening, or believe there is a vision problem with children so young, Gaytan continued. Adding to the issue, there are fewer doctors who do screenings on children younger than 4 because not only is that age group not covered by Medicaid, the little ones are harder to work with. All the more reason the Aurora Lions Club, which has historically been known for its focus on vision health for kids, continues to aggressively promote its 0-3 screening and follow-up program, especially targeting the community’s immigrant Hispanic population. Over the past year that push includes creating the nonprofit Aurora Lions Club Foundation, which allows the group to accept sponsorships and donations, having access to the newest screening camera model and raising awareness about a Congressional bill targeting early detection of vision impairments for children. Studies indicate this screening is so critical because 80% of what we learn is through the eyes, and sight is the most imperfect sense at birth. Simply put, both women insist, if children are not able to see well, they will not learn and develop as they should. According to Gaytan, “we are working to find more doctors to take those (younger than 4)” and are hoping that this campaign will not only see an uptick in screenings but awareness in general about the importance of testing for all ages of children. “The hope is that families spread the word,” she said. In addition to community health screenings, the Aurora Lions Club, which will showcase this local program at the district convention this month, continues to focus on the elementary schools. But as Koepke pointed out, at a parent presentation in January only one mother showed up, and she did not speak English. Still, Koepke described it as a “fabulous experience” because “I learned as much” from this event as did the mother, whose child ended up needing glasses. In addition to now using split-screens, with English on one side, Spanish on the other, Koepke noted that using translators is critical. “One child at a time,” said Koepke, who remains convinced that screenings and follow-up play vital roles in helping children succeed in school and in life. “It is still baby steps,” she added, “but we are making progress.” dcrosby@tribpub.com ...read more read less