Courts Optical brings a Brighter View to students

Courts Optical has been helping students across TT see clearly. Through its Brighter View initiative, Courts Optical has screened and tested approximately 3000 students across the nation.

The pilot project was launched in 2017 in Trinidad as a wider part of Unicomer’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programme. It was then expanded to the wider Caribbean region to the tune of US$50,000 and has reached the islands of Jamaica, Guyana, St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua, St Kitts and Belize last year.

Last year, Courts Optical visited students in secondary schools in south Trinidad including Cedros Secondary and Fyzabad Anglican Secondary schools. This year approximately 800 students were screened in schools such as Speyside High School and Roxborough Secondary School in Tobago with 150 receiving state of the art eye care and complete glasses.

The Courts Optical mobile lab visited the schools and together with respective school management teams identified the students in need of eye care. The optometrists completed comprehensive vision screening and testing and returned completed glasses to the students within three weeks of the initial visits.

Nicole Loney-Mills, corporate social responsibility regional officer for Unicomer (Trinidad) Limited has seen the difference this programme has made in the lives of many students in TT “We have heard of instances in these communities where parents are unable to afford the prescription eyewear their children require,” Loney-Mills said.

She added that teachers have expressed seeing changes in the behaviour of some students as well improvements in the quality of their work all because they are better able to see. She has also noted the sheer joy on the faces of students who receive their free glasses from Courts Optical.

The overall objective of this initiative seeks to deliver comprehensive eye care to young people in vulnerable circumstances throughout TT and the Caribbean. It also aims to provide durable frames, the best lens technology and renewed hope for visually-challenged youth.