A friendly eagle mascot will soon begin visiting Jacksonville children to spread the word about eye care.
Duval County is one of the state’s first to test out a new pediatric vision-screening campaign by the Jacksonville-based Florida Society of Ophthalmology.
FSO is partnering with several eye-screening organizations to get kids under the age of 5 tested.
The society will visit summer camps, day cares and libraries with a human-sized eagle mascot named Eagle Eye. He wears an eye chart T-shirt and has a big smile.
Dr. Rick Bendel is outgoing president of FSO. He says a serious disorder to look for in young children is Amblyopia, commonly called “lazy eye.” It’s when one eye isn’t being used.
“If your eye isn’t used, your brain doesn’t recognize it,” Bendel said. “An eye can look normal and vision might not develop. If we don’t get them before the age of 5, the likelihood of a successful outcome is very, very small.”
Bendel says if lazy eye isn’t caught by 5 years old, the not-working eye may never be functional.
He says there’s no statewide requirement to screen kids below the age of 5, but the Florida Legislature passed a resolution designating August as “Amblyopia Awareness Month.”
Duval County and Miami-Dade County are serving as pilots for the campaign.
