PediaVision To Conduct Free Children's Vision Screenings With Spot Supporting "Healthy Vision Month"

LAKE MARY, Fla., May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --  PediaVision will be conducting free public vision screenings with the revolutionary Spot vision screener to commemorate the month of May as Healthy Vision Month, the company announced today.

The screenings will be held in various locations throughout Florida, including Miami, Orlando and Deland. The events will be conducted at a variety of places such as Charter Schools, Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten programs and the Urban League.  

PediaVision invented Spot to screen children as well as adults, fully supporting the National Eye Institute's efforts emphasizing the importance of vision as a health priority. Spot is a handheld, portable, wireless, WiFi enabled vision screener that looks like a camera and has an incredibly quick capture time of one second or less, which makes screening efficient with pre-verbal and young children.

"Our company is committed to providing the technology to screen people quickly and accurately throughout the United States in order to determine if there are vision issues which would require a full eye exam," said David Melnik, president and chief executive officer of PediaVision. "Spot allows us to screen children as young as six months old."

The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that during childhood, babies up to age 2 should have vision screenings during regular pediatric visits, and screenings every one or two years from ages 3 to 19. 

"When we screen the younger children, we are able to identify those children at risk for amblyopia, which many people know as lazy eye," said Melnik, who founded PediaVision in 2007. "We have to identify it by the age of 8 to correct it; otherwise there is little chance of reversing it."

Healthy Vision Month is a national eye health observance established by the National Eye Institute in 2003 to educate Americans about the importance of early diagnosis and treatment through outreach efforts aimed at the general public.  Millions of people living in the United States have undetected vision problems. Healthy Vision Month is designed to elevate vision as a health priority for the nation by promoting the importance of early detection.

About PediaVision

PediaVision, inventor of the Spot vision screener, is dedicated to solving the critical health issue of undiagnosed vision problems and transforming the lives of thousands of children each day.  A child with an undetected or untreated vision problem is more likely to develop social or emotional problems. Thus, a child's vision problems can affect not only their own learning, but that of their peers.[1] Automated and objective vision screening empowers organizations in public health and private medicine to ensure children have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Supported by ophthalmologists, optometrists, scientists and leading technology innovators, the Spot vision screener is breakthrough technology and represents what vision screening should be.  For more information, including how to order Spot, please visit www.pediavision.com. 

[1]  2010 Charles E. Basch, Teachers College, Columbia University. A Research Initiative of the Campaign for Educational Equity Teachers College, Columbia University.

SOURCE PediaVision