Great Bay (GIS):--- Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Minister of Health Cornelius de Weever attended the end program of the Vision Screening Project, a pilot project that gave young students, who parents gave consent, a thorough eye exam.
The Vision Project is a project initiated by the proprietors of St. Maarten Optical, Rick and Cathy Heemskerk, who donated eye glasses to students who could not afford such at this point in time.
Today, August 5, these students came into the store with their parents or guardian to collect their new facial accessories, two weeks before school starts.
But unlike hearing problems, easier detected than vision problems, Cathy said that it is difficult to detect eye problems. At times, these students think of themselves as less intelligent.
So when kids do not know they cannot see well, a negative perception emerges due to not knowing what the problem is.
Prime Minister Wescot said that the program was invaluable to the community, especially the donation of the eye glasses. I want to thank you very much for that, Rick and Cathy. This program has a come a long way. It is important to have children checked, because you never know. Government looks forward to continuing the program.
Minister De Weever thanked the Heemskerks for their efforts and kindness. This gesture goes a long way, he said. In addition, the children have two weeks to get accustomed to wearing the spectacles, so they will be relax and comfortable with their eye glasses when school starts.
The next activity was to actually put on the glasses on child. Each child received a small "back-to-school" bag of educational goodies, from the store owners.