LA JOLLA (KGTV) — For many San Diego kids, seeing clearly out of both eyes can be a challenge, and for their parents, the challenge is being able to catch that.
“If their teeth hurt, it's like oh it hurts,” said UCSD senior Jennifer Espinoza. “How do they know they are not seeing how they are supposed to? They can't. That's what they think clear vision is. but it's not.”
Espinoza is one of several volunteers at the Shiley Eye Institute who helps get its Eyemobile ophthalmology office to 250 local schools every year.
“I love volunteering,” she said. “We are changing kids lives. If they are not able to see, how are they able to learn? It affects everything.”
Children referred from a vision screening sit in a chair, while an optometrist does an eye exam. Through a series of tests where kids look through a phoropter, the optometrist can determine how clear or blurry their vision is and determine whether or not they need glasses.
“When you put the glasses on, it's like, ‘Wow, I can notice the colors and the details in my classroom,” said Espinoza.
“Imagine trying to stay in the circles, or practicing the letters, it's hard for a child to focus when they can't see it,” said director of Eyemobile for Children Dr. Iliana Molina. “So when they're reading, they’re just kind of like whatever because it's blotchy.”
For Espinoza, she doesn’t mind volunteering her time because she knows exactly how it feels to go through school with blurry vision. It’s something that didn’t change until she moved here from Mexico in 9th grade.
“In Mexico we don't get eye exams,” said Espinoza. “Everything became so much clearer. What? I don't have squint anymore and force my eyes? Now I do not get headaches because I'm not forcing my eyes so it completely changed my life.”
The glasses and everything else is free for the families.
Everything is funded through private grants and donations. The Shiley Eye Institute says a private donor just paid for a brand new Eyemobile it will get by next year and at that point it can use their old Eyemobile to serve the elderly in our community.”
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