Earlier this month HPR featured the annual drive for eyeglasses and hearing aids that took place across the state. The Lions Club said it collected hundreds of pairs of prescriptions, sunglasses and hearing aids.
This week HPR is taking the time to explore issues around vision care. Dr. Neda Nikpoor is an ophthalmologist with Jenkins Eye Care. She has worked in remote places across the world like the Himalayas and the Marshall Islands.
She also sits on an advisory board with Project Vision Hawaiʻi which regularly does screenings in our schools. Project Vision Hawaiʻi and the nonprofit Vision to Learn screen some 22,000 schoolchildren every year with the priority of Title I schools in underserved communities.
The state Department of Education told HPR that historically the Health Department used to conduct vision and hearing tests statewide, but it has not been funded for many years. The DOE said the availability of screening depends on funding and volunteers and it prioritizes high-risk age groups.
Nikpoor shared that there has been an uptick on Hawaiʻi Island in cases of keratoconus, an eye condition that causes the cornea to thin and bulge into a cone shape — creating blurred vision. The Conversation talked with her about what she is seeing out in the community and the uptick in cases.
Editor's note: Jenkins Eye Care is an underwriter of HPR.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Jan. 30, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
