Community
21 August, 2024
Lions volunteers leaving a legacy in the North West
More than 1000 sets of children's eyes have been tested in the region.
Lions Eye Health Program coordinator Irene Braddick has praised the strong ties forged with Gulf communities following its first series of vision screenings in the region.
Mrs Braddick said while there were no Lions Clubs in the Gulf to help arrange the screenings, the community had been very supportive of the concept and had made the six-volunteer team welcome during the visits to local schools.
She said Lions became active in assisting the Burketown community following the 2023 floods, which meant Lions organisers were already acquainted with community members when the time came to arrange the recent eye screenings.
Mrs Braddick said Lions volunteers had travelled to the region in January to assess the flood damage and soon arranged for hampers, complete with snake bite and first aid kits, to be distributed to station owners as well as tuckshop equipment to be sent to Burketown State School and the famous Lions Christmas cakes to be distributed to the local health centre.
All of the donations were moved to the region for free by local transport companies.
“We have good communication channels with people across the Gulf now and they were so appreciative of everything we have been organising,” Mrs Braddick said.
“It was the first time we had arranged eye screenings in the Gulf and we feel it has been very successful.”
Mrs Braddick said Lions volunteers had spent four weeks on the road travelling 3000km across the Gulf then to Mount Isa and across the Flinders highway and had visited 19 educational facilities and screened 1320 children.
There were 181 children that were referred to health professionals for further screenings following the Lions program.
The screening effort included every school student in Cloncurry, which was recognised this week with a $5000 donation from the Cloncurry Lions Club to assist bringing the clinics back to the North West in the future.
Mrs Braddick said Lions had doubled the number of North West children who participated in the screenings compared to the effort two years ago, which she said was a testament to the coordination efforts of North West schools.
“We cannot see a child unless they have parent permission, so the schools have done an exceptional job in getting the permission slips signed and agreed to,” she said.
“If a child is screened and any sight issues are detected early, then we know it has a big impact on their engagement and performance at school, which has a big impact on the rest of their lives.”
Mrs Braddick said the program would complete its final stage when it visited the schools between Hughenden and Charters Towners in October.
She said Lions planned to return to the North West every two years to continue its eye health screening program.