‘I Can See Clearly’ Coordinator tells parents be informed; attend their children’s visual health screening

​Program Coordinator of the ‘I Can See Clearly’ project, Nurse Joan Henry is appealing to parents to be present during their children’s visual health screening, so as to obtain pertinent information about their health.
 
The School Vision and Body Mass Index project, dubbed ‘I can see clearly now’ aims to assist students attending primary & secondary schools with visual health care management as part of the school healthcare program. The Ministries of Health and Education have collaborated to undertake the project, which is funded by government with assistance from the government of Cuba.
 
Nurse Henry advised that the Health Ministry will ensure parents are informed of the screening dates ahead of time, so that they can attend. She further advised that It is important for parents to be present to see what is being done, during examination of their children.
 
Nurse Henry encouraged parents who cannot make it to have a parental representative be there with their child, during these examinations.“There may be something that you need to know that we cannot tell the teachers for you that you need to get the first hand information so we need you to be there”.
 
She appealed to parents who denied permission for their children to be screened, to reconsider this decision. Since the program was launched in December 2016, first level assessments have reportedly been completed in 59 primary schools.
 
So far, 6,365 primary school students have had first level assessment done by a family nurse practitioner. 4,888 students were assessed to have normal vision, while over 1000 were found to be in need of further management.
 
Just last week, a 6-member medical team from Cuba arrived in Dominica to assist with the second level assessments. The team consists of three ophthalmologists, two optometrists, and one technician.