The Berrien County Health Department is planning a hearing and vision screening clinic for homeschooled students in January.
Department hearing and vision coordinator Melisa Jordan tells us they started holding these screenings during COVID when the number of students being homeschooled jumped.
“We just noticed that we were missing a good opportunity to reach out to the homeschooled and virtual students who don’t have the quote-unquote normal school schedule as a public school or a private school student does,” Jordan said.
Jordan says getting a student’s eyes and ears screened can help identify problems that maybe weren’t noticed before, leading to improved academic performance. She says many parents don’t realize their child needs glasses until it’s affected the child’s school work.
The screening clinic can accommodate special needs kids.
“We have this new, great instrument that’s called the Spot Digital Screener, so if the child is non-verbal, we can take a picture of their eyes and we’ll be able to determine if the child needs to be further evaluated from there.”
Jordan says the clinic will be free, and it’s walk-in, meaning anyone can just stop by without an appointment.
It will take place on January 3 from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at health department’s Benton Harbor office.
