All In A Day's Work: Free Eye Screenings for Senior Citizens on Public Assistance
When Southeast CDC Social Services invited us to be a part of their annual public assistance review at the MacPherson Moral Seni or Activity Centre, we were only too happy to mobilise our community services team of The Eye Site optometrist Roger Lim, The Lens Men - Parkway Parade opticians Poon Cheng Boon and Dan Toh, The Lens Men - The Centrepoint optometrist Kang Hean Young and optician/manager Doriza Lee!
April 15, 2008 —With a refraction machine and slit lamp graciously loaned by Ning Kwong, our team screened a total of 80 elderly people on public assistance living in the Circuit Road and Pipit Road neighbourhoods on April 10 and 11. As part of their annual public assistance review sessions, the Southeast CDC had also organised free blood tests and pressure measurements, hair cuts, as well as our eye screen station. Although our priority was to examine public assistance patients, we also welcomed any resident in the area who wanted to check their eye health and see if they needed new prescriptions.
Although eye disease is prevalent among the elderly, we're glad to report that we detected only one ailment which had to be referred to a polyclinic, and that many patients enjoyed great eyesight! We will be dispensing 25 prescription eyeglasses to senior citizens who live alone without income and do not enjoy any other means of living assistance, apartment from government support. Many senior citizens mistakenly think that eye care is not a priority health item as long as they can see in some capacity, read the newspapers and watch TV -- they don't realise that having good vision is also important to enable them to move around carefully and prevent accidents which could cause much greater harm physically. Also, eye ailments may be symptoms of larger health issues such as diabetes and hypertension, and regular eye screenings can serve as early detectors of these diseases. We hope that their new spectacles will empower these elderly friends to enjoy a much higher quality of life!
