The school year recently started in Chiang Mai, and as we plan our CMIRC School Vision Screening Program, we recognize we will not be able to start our screenings until many more CMIRC volunteers have had the chance to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Once we have sufficient volunteers fully vaccinated and new volunteers have been trained, we plan to continue the project in the Chiang Mai Municipal Schools and the Wat Suan Dok School in partnership with Optician Khun One at Chom Jun Optic, the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai Wattana, and, if pediatric ophthalmological surgery is needed, the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai North.
Goals for 2021-2022
Provide vision screening and free glasses for all 3rd and 5th grade students who need them at the eleven Chiang Mai Municipal Schools and the Wat Suan Dok School beginning in the second term of the school year and continuing through the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year (November, December, January, February). We expect to screen approximately 800 children this year.
At each school, we will also rescreen and reevaluate all students who received glasses through our CMIRC SVSP during the 2020-2021 school year. We prescribed and delivered 147 glasses last year.
Finally, while our plans are coming together for the 2021-2022 Rotary Year, we have not yet found full funding for the project. The program cost per prescription including the optician’s fees, frames, and lenses this past year was about 600 Baht (US$20); the glasses are provided for free to the children. The total program budget for this year is estimated at about $3,000 US dollars.
If you wish to learn how you can help, please contact Project Champion John Schorr at johnkschorr@gmail.com or tel.: 66 (0)8 5030 2143
Our 2021-2022 School Vision Screening Donor Team