Eric Mahinay, Eleanor Dela Cruz and Amor Zapata were the opticians who administered the screening.
“We used a monitor vision screening device which allows each patient to see the letters without the hindrance of bad lighting that is usually associated with the traditional eye exam chart,” Mahinay told Variety in an interview.
The eye exam chart, also known as the Snellen chart and named after the Dutch ophthalmologist Hermann Snellen, is printed with 11 lines of block letters.
The first line consists of one very large letter, which may be one of several letters, for example E, H, or N.
Subsequent rows have increasing numbers of letters that decrease in size. A person taking the test covers one eye, and reads aloud the letters of each row, beginning at the top. The smallest row that can be read accurately indicates the visual acuity in that eye — but that’s “old school.”
Hardt Eye Clinic purchased state-of-the-art monitor vision screening eye exam devices two years ago and opticians said it is more accurate in detecting bad or excellent vision.
Mahinay said it was discovered that the traditional Snellen chart, which is printed on a simple sheet, is not very accurate when the surrounding light is not at the right brightness level. Lighting can affect a person’s vision during testing. If the testing room is too dim for a patient, results may not be accurate.
“Our new technology is accurate because we incorporated the Snellen chart into software that we put up on the monitor for the patient to see. This way, we will not have lighting problem anymore. Our new technology eliminates these hindrances,” Mahinay added.
“Currently, Kagman High School is the first school we’ve visited in a few months. The last school we tested was William S. Reyes Elementary,” Dela Cruz said. “Our goal is to test every student on campus and then move on to other schools who are available for screening,” she added.
Zapata, a nurse optician, told Variety that the eye examination is also a way to reach students who cannot afford these services. “We come out here on our own time to help the community. We understand that there are people who need our services and here we are,” Zapata added.
Although the Hardt Eye Clinic opticians were unable to test all the students yesterday due to lack of time, they will come back so they can examine the rest of the students.
