Fellow Connecticut Lions:
This year the Connecticut Lions Eye Research Foundation will be issuing bi-monthly newsletters to update clubs on our activities. While future newsletters will go to club officers this first letter is going to all Lions in the State. As you may know, all Connecticut Lions are members of the Connecticut Lions Eye Research Foundation, although many Lions are not aware of what CLERF does.
CLERF was founded in 1954. After helping the visually impaired for years, CT Lions decided to work on funding research to prevent and cure eye disease. The first grant was given in 1956.
The idea is to give research projects small grants for a few years until they have progressed enough to apply for larger aid from the National Institute of Health or Corporate firms research grants. A recent example of this was a grant given to a project at Yale a few years ago for a project to cure cancer of the eye without the loss of vision. The project scored a few successes and based on their progress they applied to NIH and received funding and no longer have need for CLERF grants.
Over the last 70 years CLERF has given out over $10 million in grants. One of the most successful research projects was in 1983 when we awarded grants that led to the discovery of the gene for as well as the cause of age related macular degeneration. This breakthrough was recognized Internationally and led to all of the treatments you see advertised currently. In future newsletters to club officers, we will discuss the projects our current grants support.
In addition to funding research, CLERF has a program named Lions Eye Health Program (LEHP) that focuses on eye screening to help identify eye problems early so they can be addressed. We perform adult eye screenings at Special Olympics, Veteran events, and community events.
Our most significant activity under LEHP is our KidSight program in which we screen children’s eyes using high tech spot cameras. These cameras identify six eye problems in seconds. These problems are nearsightedness, farsightedness, eye misalignment, lazy eye, blurred vision, unequal pupil size and unequal refractive power. It is an alternative to the Snellen wall chart from the 1890’s that only checks for nearsightedness.
As you can imagine, having good vision is key to learning. When we screen in schools, the nurse receives the results and sends reports, showing problems requiring a doctor, to the parents. Last year we referred 17% of children screened to doctors versus the 2% average using the old Snellen wallchart. If the children with vision issues are treated by a doctor when they are young many of these problems can be cured. KidSight changes children’s lives.
The State of CT has long required elementary school students to undergo regular vision screenings. In 2022, due to CLERF’s meetings with the Department of Education, the State officially accepted using the camera for school screenings in addition to the Snellen chart for State to fulfill the vision screening requirements. Since this change in the law, the number of schools screened by Lions has grown. Some towns have purchased their own cameras and CLERF has added cameras. For the new year we are planning to ask each club to have a KidSight/CLERF person on their board to help screen children or help us determine how schools in their area are screening children’s vision. This will help us identify where we can expand KidSight.
As mentioned, this is the first of our bi-monthly newsletter with future versions going to club officers for distribution to their members. If you have an interest in becoming more involved with CLERF, be it KidSight or on a committee, please let me know.
We are looking to grow all of our service over this new year with your help.
Bill Manthey
Connecticut Lions Eye Research Foundation
President