Tribe Gets Gift of Glasses

By Dorreen Yellow Bird

About 1,000 tribal members were given vision screening and about than half of those received new glasses, some the same or next day. The screening was done at Northern Lights and started Monday and concluded Friday morning.

More than 50 community volunteers from the tribe and Minne-Tohe clinic and 22 Luxottica members helped in the effort.  Seven of those were optometrists.

The Vision Screening project is made possible by the Luxottica Corporation's One Sight Foundation. Helping with the effort was John Castillo, executive director of  Walking Shield, Inc. Luxottica is the parent company of Lenscrafters, Sears Optical, and Sunglass Hut and others. The One Sight Foundation provides the equipment necessary to conduct the vital testing including free, new eyeglasses.

There were tired sighs from those who waited in the sometimes long lines, but when they opened the case with their new glasses, most were delighted and thankful.

The long lines started with an eye chart exam.  Barb Paul-Smith was one of the workers who pointed at letters that you needed to identify.   Then you moved to an exam for color blindness and depth perception.  Florine Halversen was one of the examiners.  Abigail Bingen and a couple of other volunteers put drops into eyes then you moved on to tests for glaucoma.  From there you went into a dark room where optimists examined the eyes for disease or problems.  Little children stood on their tip toes to put their chin in the machine while the doctors showed a tiny bright light in each eye.

When they thought they were getting close to picking out a new pair of glasses, they were shuffled into another room. But it was that room where they were fitted for a prescription for their glasses. One more prescription check and they were sent to the glasses table where they picked out a pair and it was ordered.

It was a simple as that for most people.  Some of the elders or those with vision problems, however, would have to wait for weeks for their glasses because they needed special prescriptions.

Children and elders were the priority.  The bleachers were filled with children giggling and talking.  Some had dark, plastic sunglass of a sort to protect the eye after they had their eyes dilated.  A teary 6-year-old asked her teacher why she couldn’t get glasses and everyone else had them.

On Thursday evening, Jay Standish thanked the Luxottica Corporation staff on behalf of the tribe by treating them to dances from the New Town Indian Club.  At one point they were invited to come out the center and round dance with the dancers.
Mark Bluestone, superintendent of the New Town school district, thanked the group and they were presented star quilts, a tribal bag with a t-shirt and gifts.  They were served a big meal of stew, corn soup, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, fried bread and fruit salad.

Also gifted with a Pendleton blanket and jacket was Jared Eagle, who spear-headed the effort. 

All of the districts on the reservations contributed to the effort by giving stars quilts that were donated to the Luxottica group, said Kathy White Tail.

White Tail and Debbie Chase, tribal chairman’s office, cooked the food and gathered the donations.  They were also instrumental in organizing the event.

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