LABELLE — The Hendry Regional Medical Center Foundation was awarded a $6,650 grant through the generosity of Dr. Martha E. Valiant M.D. Foundation for a Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener for the Hendry Regional Convenient Care Center in LaBelle. This vision screener will be utilized on the pediatric population to help identify early vision issues. Each year the LaBelle rural health clinic sees over 1,400 pediatric patients.

The Dr. Martha E. Valiant M.D. Foundation was created to extend the legacy of Hendry County’s first and very beloved pediatrician. “This grant is exactly the type of item the Dr. Valiant would have so generously funded to offer the local pediatric population access to vital health assessment tools,” stated Sandy Woodall, Foundation Board Member.

Detecting vision problems early on is incredibly important. It’s important as many issues can be remediated if caught early. Typically vision assessment cannot be done on pediatric patients until they are verbal and can read an eye chart, which normally begins at ages 4-5. With the Spot Vision Screener patients as young as infants can receive vision screening which uses lights and sounds to help engage children.

“Our goal at the foundation is to “give the gift of better health” and this grant allows us to purchase new equipment that provides quality healthcare to future generations while continuing the legacy of Dr. Martha Valiant,” stated Electa Waddell, executive director.

Evidence shows that using the Spot Vision Screener can help to dramatically reduce the time required to test vision over traditional screening tools and increase proficiency in detecting eye problems.

The Spot Vision Screener is an essential tool in helping identify sight problems in patients as such as myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism (blurred vision), anisometropia (unequal refractive power), strabismus (eye misalignment), and anisocoria (unequal pupil size).

The Hendry Regional Medical Center Foundation matched the grant from the Dr. Martha E. Valiant M.D. Foundation to be able to purchase an additional Spot Vision Screener for the Dr. James D. Forbes Family Care Center in Clewiston.