Special Olympians Receive Free Screenings, Glasses For Vision Problems
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Nearly 1,000 Special Olympics athletes will leave this week's World Games in Los Angeles with more than medals and memories.
Yazan Hannoon, 21, a Palestinian athlete competing in this week's Special Olympics along with his coach, is one of the Special Olympics participants who's benefiting from the Lion's Club International Opening Eyes program at USC this week.
The program provides free screenings and eye-wear to people whose families may not know they have vision problems.
"Oftentimes it's misinterpreted as just a behavioral issue with a person with an intellectual disability," Special Olympics Global Clinical Advisor Susan Danberg said.
Companies like Santinelli, Essilor USA, and Safilo have donated the frames and lenses to complement a machine that uses laser technology to map out the back of a patient's eyes in a noninvasive and painless way in order to provide a wide view of that person's health.
Officials can use this device to detect hypertension, diabetes, meningitis, and some serious conditions like melanoma and other cancers occurring in other areas in the body.
Hannoon and his coach learned Tuesday he has astigmatism in both eyes. His prescription is rare and will take a few days to fill.
But he'll be going back home with his first pair of glasses that he got to select himself.