The Colorado Lions KidSight Program
(KidSight Colorado)
KidSight Colorado is a project of the Lions Clubs of Colorado which provides vision screening for young children and education about vision in children. Vision screening is provided free of charge to children ages two to six throughout the state of Colorado.
The KidSight Colorado state program officially began in 2001, thanks to a Four-Core grant received from Lions Club International (LCI), allowing for the purchase of MTI cameras for vision screening. The program now uses the Welch Allyn SureSight photoscreener which provides state-of-the-art technology. Portable and simple to use, the SureSight does not require verbal interaction from the child, making it especially suitable for preverbal and difficult-to-screen children.
The number of children screened has grown from 6,000 in 2004 to more than 30,000 in our last fiscal year. Undetected vision problems, if left untreated at an early age, can lead to Amblyopia (lazy eye) which is the leading cause of vision loss in children. The current goal for KidSight Colorado is to screen 35,000 kids yearly, which represents 50% of the children born each year in Colorado.
In the 2010-2011 year KidSight screened 30,461 children. 3,288 children were referred to eye care professionals for follow-up care.
