By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Lion's Club has been distributing glasses to those in need for several years. Starting August 1st, a new group of people will qualify for glasses
The St. Joseph Lions clubs, alongside AFL-CIO Community Services, have announced the program will begin providing glasses to children and those who qualify for Medicaid and Medicare.
Community Services Executive Director Nichi Seckinger says several requests came in from people who qualified for Medicaid but needed glasses for work
"The club recognized that because we were getting so many requests from folks that needed the help but had no means of being able to get it," Seckinger tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And so rather than maintain the current rules it was decided that it was much better to expand the program and provide that assistance."
Seckinger says the club also saw funds depleting in the carpenter’s program in the St. Joseph school district, which caused the expansion to youth as well.
Seckinger says for as many calls the agency received for glasses from those who qualified, they were turning away almost double that did not.
"We probably had to turn away and deny because they had existing medical coverage probably about 30 individuals last year for that," Seckinger says. "So, it would be half as many as the people that applied, we would see that double, so we would see a pretty good increase, and we've never offered the service to children before."
Seckinger says expanding this service will help many people because of how difficult it’s become to get glasses.
"The cost of getting glasses runs anywhere between $300 and $500 with the costs of the medical appointment and then the actual cost of the glasses themselves, and if you have any kind of special need as far as the glasses go like the need for a bifocal or if you have a stigmatism or something like that in your eye that requires the lens to be specially created, then that cost can increase," Seckinger explains. "So, it can be really expensive to get glasses."
Seckinger says to start the process of getting glasses you should contact Community Services.