Hybrid free vision screening for at-risk, low-income families
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe

Give Kids Sight Day (GKSD) is an outreach programme at Wills Eye Hospital to provide free vision screening, ophthalmic examinations and glasses. It started in 2009 and has seen >11,000 children. Its primary aim is to reach high-risk families including uninsured and under-insured families. A hybrid model was adopted after Covid-19. Screening is done virtually with follow-up in person for failed screens. This paper describes this hybrid model. During the virtual screen, trained screeners call and guide families in the set-up for a 5m Snellen visual acuity test (sent by post to the family). A fail is 20/40 or worse in either eye or a difference of >2 lines. An in-person examination is provided one week later at hospital. Refraction is done by an optometrist and glasses given where needed (two pairs free). If other pathology is noted, there is a paediatric ophthalmology referral. In 475 children, 166 were referred as fails. One-hundred-and-forty attended plus an extra 12 children (n=151). One was excluded with missing data. Fifty percent were male, 43% female. Paediatric ophthalmology referral was made for 27. Mean age was 10.68 ±3.37 years. Thirty-five percent had medical insurance but were not aware it covered vision. Children < 5 years old were always seen in person so not virtually screened. The results show the programme to have good correlation with in-person assessments and has the potential to reach families with barriers to care. The programme is at lower cost than traditional in-person screening.

Novel virtual vision screening program: give kids sight day 2020.
Green CP, Lai MJ, Gore RA, et al.
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC OPHTHALMOLOGY AND STRABISMUS
2023;60:390–5.