Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

WILKES-BARRE — Gloria Griffith seemed to be getting all the letters right in a classic vision acuity test, the one where you cover one eye and read letters on a wall. But there was a flaw in the test: The schoolmate in line next to her whispered the correct answers in her ear.

The helpful tyke unwittingly demonstrated one of the many shortcomings of a traditional visual acuity test, shortcomings virtually wiped out with the introduction of a new sight screening gizmo at Heights-Murray Elementary School. The screener not only speeds up the state-mandated eye exams for all students each year, it catches problems an acuity test can’t.

“It takes me about three minutes to do visual screening the old way,” School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage said with her clearly inexhaustible smile firmly in place. “With this I can screen a student literally in seconds.”

“This” is a Welch Allyn VS100 Spot Vision Screener, provided to the district courtesy of the United Way of Wyoming Valley as part of a new initiative dubbed “See to Succeed.” The screener, about $9,000 worth of impressive digital gizmos encased in plastic and weighing mere ounces, gets pointed at a student’s peepers and almost instantly tells the user a plethora of critical information.

“It tests for myopia (nearsightedness), astigmatism (blurred vision), aniscoria (unequal pupil size) and gaze (misalignment of the eyes),” Glynn-Roulinavage said. And it not only works with your glasses on, it tells her if the prescription is up to date.

It also boils down all the data into a bottom-line on the digital screen, with a text message either noting everything looks OK or that an eye exam is advisable. Which leads to the bigger problem “See to Succeed” hopes to fix.

“About 7,300 kids were screened last year in Wilkes-Barre Area,” United Way President Bill Jones said. “Of those, 662 had vision correction needs.” Not all needed glasses, but the sad statistic is the last one. “Only 16%, 109 kids, got glasses they needed.” Which means as many as 551 who may have needed glasses never got them.

The United Way is teaming with the Wright Center to contract with optometrists to set up a “rotating eye clinic” for the district to make sure all students who need a full exam gets one, and is working on ways to make sure that students who cannot afford glasses get them anyway.

Students with unresolved sight issues are likely to perform more poorly in school simply for want of clear vision, he said. “It’s a real serious problem, but it’s solvable.”

The new screener will be shared among all school districts, and considering how busy Glynn-Roulinavage was even while trying to show off the device with seven students, it clearly could save days of work a year. Between screenings she had to take a blood sugar measurement for one student, treat an allergic reaction with another, and administer prescription drugs to students who, at times, started lining up outside her door.

“I see 50 to 60 students some days,” she said, still smiling.

And with this program, a lot of them will start seeing her more clearly.

Gloria Griffith does the classic vision acuity test before the school nurse uses a spot vision screener to test her vision. In the time it took to do one of the old-school tests on the child, all of them could have been finished using the spot vision screener.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_TTL111519Eyes5.jpg.optimal.jpgGloria Griffith does the classic vision acuity test before the school nurse uses a spot vision screener to test her vision. In the time it took to do one of the old-school tests on the child, all of them could have been finished using the spot vision screener. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Juian Velez, Gloria Griffith, Gabriel Gonzalez, Joscely Tran and Emma Mailley wait to have their eyes checked by Heights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage using a device given to the school by the United Way of Wyoming Valley.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_TTL111519Eyes1.jpg.optimal.jpgJuian Velez, Gloria Griffith, Gabriel Gonzalez, Joscely Tran and Emma Mailley wait to have their eyes checked by Heights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage using a device given to the school by the United Way of Wyoming Valley. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Heights Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage uses a vision spot screener given to the school by the United Way to check Julian Velez’s eyes.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_TTL111519Eyes3.jpg.optimal.jpgHeights Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage uses a vision spot screener given to the school by the United Way to check Julian Velez’s eyes. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Heights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage checks the results of the vision spot screener given to the school by the United Way after checking Julian Velez’s eyes. Heights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage checks the results of the vision spot screener given to the school by the United Way after checking Julian Velez’s eyes.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_TTL111519Eyes4.jpg.optimal.jpgHeights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage checks the results of the vision spot screener given to the school by the United Way after checking Julian Velez’s eyes. Heights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage checks the results of the vision spot screener given to the school by the United Way after checking Julian Velez’s eyes. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Heights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage uses a device given to the school by the United Way of Wyoming Valley to check Joscelyn Tran’s eyes.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_TTL111519Eyes2.jpg.optimal.jpgHeights-Murray Elementary School Nurse Tracey Glynn-Roulinavage uses a device given to the school by the United Way of Wyoming Valley to check Joscelyn Tran’s eyes. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader
United Way brings high-tech vision screening to W-B Area

By Mark Guydish

[email protected]

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish