Indian River Charter High School would like to send a grand "Thank You" out to Dr. Paul V. Minotty, Dr. Roger J. Meyer, Dr. David J. O'Brien and the Vision Screening Team of the New Vision Eye Center in Vero Beach. On September 4th students and employees of IRCHS were invited to take part in the New Vision Eye Center's Project Community Caring, a program that provides free vision screenings for people throughout our community.

Since Project Community Caring's inception, over 50,000 people have been screened for various eye conditions, such as glaucoma, cataracts, and visual difficulties. Approximately 41% of those participating in the screenings were offered complete eye exams by Dr. Minotty, free of charge, to evaluate a condition found through the screening which warranted evaluation by an ophthalmologist.

At IRCHS the Vision Screening team provided a visual health analysis to sixty-eight Charter High School students and ten employees. Of the seventy-eight tested, three were referred for a free comprehensive eye exam and fifty-eight were also pressure tested for glaucoma using a technique called puff tonometry. The screenings took place on the IRCHS campus from nine a.m. to one thirty p.m. "All in all," says the school's assistant director Jon Sternberg "it was an eye opening experience!"

For more information about Project Community Caring, contact New Vision Eye Center's public relations director Carrie Ludicke.