Lions Club donates braille embosser to West Valley students

The Kalispell Sunriser Lions Club recently donated a new braille embosser for West Valley School to aid students with visual impairments.

The braille embosser, worth about $3,600, connects to a computer to print braille cells in an embossed, tactile form. Printing textbooks, workbooks, reading books and other curriculums for the visually impaired will be efficient and cost-effective, according to West Valley paraeducator Janelle Ruby. She noted that purchasing a book in braille can cost hundreds depending on the amount of text, number of pages and complexity of the subject matter.

“They have basically opened the gateway not only for current students, but for any potential future students to get services without straining the [school] budget,” Ruby said about the club’s donation.

Historically, vision has been a key area of focus for Lions Clubs International. The focus on vision began with a challenge made by Helen Keller, during a Lions convention in 1925, for the club to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness,” according to www.lionsclub.org.

Today, people might be most familiar with the Lions eyeglasses recycling program, but the club provides a host of other programs, initiatives and partnerships with the goal to improve sight and prevent blindness.

Locally, the Sunriser Lions Club has led efforts to conduct annual vision screenings on children in schools and daycares throughout the valley, Troy and Libby, in partnership with medical professionals and community members.

In the 2017-18 school year, vision screenings were conducted on 9,602 children, said David Falcon, outgoing president of the Sunriser Lions Club and a Montana Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation trustee. Falcon, who coordinates area vision screenings, said the screenings are quick and use a specialized automated device from the company Plusoptix. The device measures a child’s vision and can detect prevalent eye disorders early. The device provides volunteers at each screening with either a “pass” or “refer” designation. Screening volunteers do not provide a medical diagnosis. The “refer” designation means that parents or guardians simply need to follow up with an eye-care professional for an examination.

For more information on the Sunriser Lions sight programs and vision screenings, contact Falcon at 406-257-2258 or email lion.dfalcon@gmail.com.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.