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Naples Lions Club Fights Lazy Eye with Free Screenings, Eye Care

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Photo: Chris Schrier via Flickr Creative Commons
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The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

The Naples Lions Club is setting for itself an ambitious goal: eradicating lazy eye, or amblyopia, from kids across Collier County. To accomplish that goal, they're funding eye exams, glasses, surgeries and more for needy adults and children in Collier County.

The program is offering vision and hearing screenings for preschool children to detect lazy eye, as well as screening for needy adults to test for issues like glaucoma, cataracts and retinal disease. The Lion's Club says that more than 1,000 children have eye problems needing treatment, but fewer than 30 percent of those kids are getting screened.

Dr. Howard Freedman, treasurer with the Naples Lions Club, joins Gulf Coast Live to talk about the project, why the Lion's Club is focusing on eye issues, how residents can access the screenings, and the community partners making it possible.

Copyright 2020 WGCU. To see more, visit WGCU.

Matthew Smith is a reporter and producer of WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live.
Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.