Young students get glasses through new pilot program with Mobile County Health Department and Family Health's Dr. Kent Daum

Dr. Kent Daum and his staff take a photo with students at the Southwest

Alabama Regional School for the Deaf and Blind in Mobile.

MOBILE, Ala. -- A pilot program between the Mobile County Health Department’s eye care division, led by Dr. Kent Daum, and six public schools in Mobile County is allowing young students to get new glasses – even selecting the frames themselves on the day of their exam.

Students at McDavid-Jones Elementary, the Southwest Alabama Regional School for the Deaf and Blind and Belsaw-Mount Vernon Elementary have already benefitted from the program, according to Robin Crager, a teacher of the hearing impaired at the regional school in Mobile.

The initiative was developed because of the importance of early identification of eye issues in children. At McDavid-Jones Elementary School, 30 children were given complete eye exams. Twenty-four of them -- some 87 percent -- needed glasses, according to Crager. The students were identified by their classroom teachers.

“The smiles on the children’s faces were priceless as they were fitted with their new glasses,” Crager said.

School principals are embracing the opportunity for students, with parent permission, to receive comprehensive vision and eye exams at the school, school officials said.

Dr. Kent Daum, O.D., Ph.D., Optometrist with the MCHD, and his staff, held the first MCHD outreach vision clinic in the fall of 2014 at McDavid-Jones. Known for his volunteer work with children, Dr. Daum previously set up school vision clinics in Chicago while in private practice.

The school clinics are designed to assist parents and students by allowing the care to be integrated into the school day. Parents and guardians don’t have to make a trip to the health department. Each exam requires about an hour of the student’s time. MCHD billed the student’s insurance for the exams. If insurance coverage was not available, other agencies such as Sight Savers America could be contacted for assistance.