By By Matthew Nascone
The Atmore Lions Club will have a booth set up during Williams Station Day Oct. 28, but the Lions will have something no other booth will have, the Alabama Lions Sight Mobile Screening Unit.
The decision to bring the screening unit to Atmore was made for one reason.
"The Lions Club figured it would be a good service to offer to people of this community," Lion Dale Johnson said. "It has been used in other places and it is a great service to offer the community."
The screening unit checks many different variables through a couple simple eye tests. The unit provides screenings for glaucoma, visual acuity, hearing, diabetes and hypertension. The Alabama Lions Sight Conservation Association, a nonprofit organization, offers the service. The purpose is to provide eye care to people who cannot afford an eye exam.
Johnson said the specifics for where the unit will be located have not been decided, but those details will be ironed out in the Lions Club meeting today at noon. The unit has helped the communities of Mobile, Saraland and Bayou LaBatre.
Lions have been given the challenge by a famous Alabamian, Helen Keller, to become the "knights of the blind" and this service will help with early detection of conditions and may help prevent the development of more serious illnesses or even blindness, according to a press release.