Free Vision Screening In Newtown

Unite for Sight will hold a free vision screening and education event at the Booth Library in Newtown on Friday, July 27, from 1 to 3 pm. Unite for Sight, a nonprofit organization founded by Yale student Jennifer Staple of Newtown, is dedicated to preventing blindness through vision screening and vision education programs.

Unite for Sight screens children and adults, and those who have a poor visual acuity are referred to an eye doctor for a complete examination, diagnosis, and treatment. Preschool children are checked for both amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (cross eye). About 500,000 children become blind in one eye each year due to a brain malfunction that causes lazy eye. If undetected by the age of five, lazy eye causes irreversible blindness.

Unite for Sight will also feature informational exhibits about eye anatomy, eye health and eye diseases, how glasses and contact lenses correct vision, and optical illusions.

For more information about Unite for Sight and its upcoming events, send email to Jennifer.Staple@yale.edu or visit the organization’s Web site at www.uniteforsight.org.