Local nonprofit mobilizes eye care to help kids see better

Local nonprofit mobilizes eye care to help kids see better

(Jacob Wiegand, KSL)


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SOUTH JORDAN — Yuma Medina lost everything when she brought her two daughters to Utah three years ago.

She's tried hard to make things normal for them, but finances have always been an issue for the single mom.

"We're really poor people," she said Saturday. But she's feeling better about things now that she's working full-time on an assembly line at medical-device-manufacturer Merit Medical.

Medina, who fled Venezuela's dictatorship in 2015, recently saw a notice at work and signed her daughters, 7 and 11, up for vision screenings and eye exams offered by the company through a local organization Eye Care 4 Kids, for which she thought would be a nominal fee.

After they were fitted for new glasses, Medina nearly cried when she was told there would be no charge.

"With myself, because I wear glasses, too, I would have had to buy three pair of glasses," she said. "This will help me a lot."

Merit's CEO Fred Lampropoulos has helped to support Eye Care 4 Kids the last two years. The Midvale-based nonprofit outfits low-income school-age kids with glasses after they fail annual vision screenings at their schools. On Saturday, Eye Care 4 Kids parked its mobile unit in the parking lot at Merit headquarters in South Jordan and Lampropoulos asked them to not turn anyone away.

"Fred grew up in a struggling family and he remembers the community help given to him and his family," said Lampropoulos' executive assistant, Lacey Nash. "He's the kind of CEO who wants to make sure no employee is forgotten or struggling for any reason."

Optician Tawna O'Reilly, of West Valley City, helps Paola Rodriguez, of West Valley City, 10, with her glasses during Eye Care 4 Kids’ mobile clinic event outside Merit Medical on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in South Jordan. (Photo: Jacob Wiegand, KSL)
Optician Tawna O'Reilly, of West Valley City, helps Paola Rodriguez, of West Valley City, 10, with her glasses during Eye Care 4 Kids’ mobile clinic event outside Merit Medical on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in South Jordan. (Photo: Jacob Wiegand, KSL)

The traveling eye care van and its volunteer staff were able to help about 30 kids in five hours at Merit, but Nash said the opportunity will likely become a more regular thing, and hopefully at the company's offices in other cities, too.

"Taking care of our employees is our No.1 priority," said Louise Bott, Merit vice president of global human resources. "They are our greatest asset. They are our future."

Eye Care 4 Kids, which started in 2001 and functions entirely on grants and charitable donations, has served nearly 250,000 kids, some of whom return for new glasses year after year. It has grown to include clinics in eight states and mobile units in Utah and Nevada, which are scheduled to be at schools across the states and throughout Las Vegas up to a year in advance because of such high demand.

Founding partner and board-certified optician Joseph Carbone said too many children go without proper eye care because of the cost to their parents.

"If we can just get kids on the right path, where they're able to see and have the opportunity to do well in school, it makes a huge difference in their lives," he said.

Eye Care 4 Kids' mobile eye care clinic during the organization's event outside Merit Medical on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in South Jordan. (Photo: Jacob Wiegand, KSL)
Eye Care 4 Kids' mobile eye care clinic during the organization's event outside Merit Medical on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in South Jordan. (Photo: Jacob Wiegand, KSL)

It was no surprise that Medina's youngest daughter complained of headaches nearly every day before she got her first pair of glasses, as the experience was similar for Medina as a child and until she was able to have laser eye surgery in her hometown in Venezuela.

The glasses have helped quell the headaches, but also give the girls a sense of confidence as they continue to adjust to their environment.

Medina, 44, wants the best for her girls and said she is "happy to have the help."

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Wendy Leonard is a deputy news director at KSL.com. Prior to this, she was a reporter for the Deseret News since 2004, covering a variety of topics, including health and medicine, police and courts, government and other issues relating to family.

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