Southeastern Idaho Public Health receives grant for digital vision machine

(KIFI/KIDK) The Portneuf Health Trust presented Southeastern Idaho Public Health with a grant for a brand new automatic, digital vision machine.

Staff members at Southeastern Idaho Public Health said they do vision screenings for a lot of the schools in the Pocatello area.

“This machine is more accurate, much faster and requires less man power than our previous machine,” said Ian Troesoyer, a registered nurse and the Clinical Service Director at Southeastern Idaho Public Health.

If you have had your vision tested in school, you might remember the long process.

“Some of your viewers might remember getting vision screened at their school and its this interesting machine that you have to look into and the nurse is asking you questions while you are flipping through the wheels,” said Troesoyer. “In order to screen a kid accurately you need to, a kid needs to be able to say ‘oh yea I can read line five.'”

The problem with old vision testing machines is it requires kids to tell doctors what they see. This can be challenging if the child has a disability or does not feel comfortable communicating with someone they do not know.

Thanks to the digital machine Southeastern Idaho Public Health now has, kids do not need to tell a doctor what they see. All a doctor has to do is point the machine at the the child’s eyes and it will let the physician know what type of vision they have and if they need glasses.

“With this machine it works regardless if a kid feels comfortable or is able to give us this information. It will certainly help a lot with accurate screening for kids with disabilities,” added Troesoyer.