Fort Worth students get free eye exams, glasses at Kid Vision Fest

For the past year, 11-year-old Yahir Villalobos had to squint to complete class assignments and shoved his face close to the type in textbooks.

“I would get headaches,” Yahir said. “It was bad.”

But on Friday morning, blurred words became crystal clear when Yahir was outfitted with a pair of glasses.

More than 850 students from Fort Worth and surrounding school districts received free eye exams, and some got their corrective glasses on the spot at Friday’s Kids Vision Fest at Tarrant County College’s Trinity River Campus. For children who needed more specialized lenses, the glasses were ordered.

“We know if they don’t see well, they don’t learn as well or to their fullest potential, so the sooner we can correct any visual problems, the better off they are,’’ said Alice Turner-Jackson, director of health services for the Fort Worth school district.

Students selected their frames after the vision test, Turner-Jackson said. Yahir chose a blue frame.

His mother looked on as her son waited to begin an eye exam.

“He has been having problems for a while,” mother Lupe Ramirez said. “I just didn’t have the ability to financially support a new pair of glasses for him. I am very grateful for this.”

The event was supported by Essilor Vision Foundation, Kids Vision for Life, Alcon Foundation, Lions Organ and Eye Bank and Tarrant County College.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Fort Worth students get free eye exams, glasses at Kid Vision Fest."