The Berrien County Health Department is already thinking about the next school year as it schedules a series of free hearing, vision, and dental screenings for children this summer.
Department hearing and vision coordinator Melisa Jordan tells us the state of Michigan requires kids entering kindergarten at public and private schools to be screened so they can start the year ready to learn. The health department is offering the upcoming clinics as a one stop shop for all three screenings.
“The screenings take a good maybe 10 to 15 minutes,” Jordan said. “It really depends on the student, how easy they are to work with. Some students are a little bit more reluctant, but that’s okay. We love to play the games with them and show them that we’re not scary, that we’re here just to have a good time and make sure that they can see here and that they don’t have any dental pain for when they start their school year.”
The dental screenings are new, with the department just starting them last year. Jordan says they’re easy, with no poking around.
“What they do is they just simply observe the student’s mouth. So the student will open their mouth and she’ll look inside their teeth and see if there’s any cavities or anything significant to report to the parents. And her screening usually takes maybe about one or two minutes. It’s really fun. She makes it really simple for the kiddos.”
Jordan says the hearing and vision screenings are equally easy for the kids.And she says they’re important.
“Starting kindergarten is a huge milestone and hearing, vision, and dental screenings help make sure that the students are truly ready to learn, communicate, and succeed from day one. So this is just a great opportunity to see where your students at because you’d be surprised. Parents just aren’t aware and students aren’t aware. Maybe they’re used to seeing those trees as green blobs and they’re not seeing the definition of those nice lovely leaves or maybe they’re not hearing the birds chirping because they have something as simple as fluid or wax in the ear. So we’re here to help get that student ready to learn and succeed in school.”
The BCHD clinics are free and open to all Berrien County residents, available for children ages three to six. Clinics will be held in locations throughout the county starting in June and continuing through August.
Summer clinics are available 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. by appointment at locations across Berrien County. The dates and locations are:
Monday, June 8 – Brandywine Innovation Academy, 1830 South 3rd St., Niles
Tuesday, June 9 – Hollywood Elementary, 143 W. John Beers Road, Stevensville
Monday, June 15 – Roosevelt Elementary, 2000 Eldorado Drive, Stevensville
Tuesday, June 23 – Benton Charter Township Hall, 1725 Territorial Road, Benton Charter Township
Tuesday, June 30 – Coloma Junior High, 302 W. St. Joseph St., Coloma
Tuesday, July 28 – Lybrook Elementary, 6238 W. Main St., Eau Claire
Monday, Aug. 10 – Northside Child Development Center, 2020 N. 5th St., Niles –
Thursday, Aug. 13 – Stewart Elementary, 2750 Orchard Lane, Stevensville
You can learn more and make an appointment right here.
