MITCHELL, SD (Mitchell Now) — Of all the things to do at the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo Family Fun Day, most wouldn’t expect a van with darkened windows parked on the fringe of the lot to be one of the more popular attractions.
The vehicle, painted a distinctive yellow on the exterior, is owned and operated by the Mitchell Lions Club. Member and former president Paul Miskimins is a big reason why the mobile vision screening clinic has made the rodeo an annual stop, and why it continues to do big numbers with an even bigger impact. He operates an extremely expensive piece of equipment that reads the eyes of a person, starting at only a couple months old.
Miskimins was a dentist by trade, not an eye doctor, and he praises the equipment for allowing people to help even without expertise. He tells Mitchell Now, “We’re lucky to have such a screening tool. It makes it so much easier than eye charts. We’re not professional eye doctors, but we are doing screenings. This is a very technologically advanced camera that we have. It is an expensive camera, over $10,000 for each camera, but we’re grateful for all it can do to help us screen children.”
The machine features a butterfly pattern that moves like a digital kaleidoscope, hooking young children and keeping their focus. While a person is looking at the display, the machine screens their eyes for any abnormalities like astigmatism that could hinder their sight. If the results come back outside of an acceptable range, the machine can print out its diagnostics. Miskimins and his crew will then hand over the chart to the parents and encourage them to do a full exam with an ophthalmologist.
Within only a couple of hours at the rodeo, the Lions will see dozens of kids. Miskimins beams, “Here, in the two hours we normally do, between 75 and 80 [children].” Of those, he estimates about 5% will be referred for an exam.
The Lions have gotten good at attracting attention for something that doesn’t seem real fun on the surface. They like to set up between the candy vendor and the inflatables. A bucket of free sunglasses and candy bars on ice sit out on the table out front of where Miskimins does his work. At peak efficiency, he can get a reading completed in about 30 seconds.
The Lions will spend the fall heading to area schools. Alongside vision, another focus for the group is conducting youth hearing screenings. Miskimins calls the work gratifying, saying it’s all for the kids.