BOSTON —
Many people have put off medical care during the pandemic and that includes eye exams for children. But on Tuesday, the doctor went to the students at one Boston school.
At Blackstone Elementary in Roxbury, some students took a quick test outside the classroom, including Heaven, a fourth grader who sometimes has trouble seeing the board.
“Eighty percent of learning is visual, and 20% of students have a visual deficiency where they can’t see the board, and a simple pair of glasses can fix that,” said Alexis McLaughlin, CEO of 20/20 Onsite.
20/20 Onsite brings eye exams right to companies and schools with their mobile office.
“A lot of people don’t prioritize their eye health or they are in situations where they don’t have access to care,” McLaughlin said. “We just try to make it easy to get access to care and during the pandemic. We facilitate clinical research.”
Their visit Tuesday was funded by AGTC, a biotechnology company that decided to honor participants in their clinical trials by donating eye exams through Greater Gift.
“That really enforces for the patients involved in clinical trials, all involved in eye clinical trials, the importance of the impact of their contribution as clinical trial participants,” said Lilly Skok Bunch of Greater Gift.
Heaven does need a prescription and she picked out the perfect pair of free frames.
Any student who needs glasses will have them delivered to the school in two weeks.
