PURSUiNG MEdicAl cAREERS AFtER SERviNG thEiR cOUNtRy

Austin Lectureshipfocuses on childvision careDeborah Klein Walker, EdDThere is a public health emergency with respect tochild vision care. Millions of children are notreceiving essential eye care services that canprevent eye disease, ease developmental delays,improve school achievement and, alleviate othersocial problems.The country needs to provide all children withcomprehensive vision care to ensure optimal healthoutcomes.That was the message from Deborah Klein Walker,EdD, the keynote speaker at Western University ofHealth Sciences’ third annual Dr. Robert L. AustinEndowed Lectureship in Pediatric Medicine andPediatric Health Policy on March 15, 2012.Walker is a Vice President, Senior Fellow and thePractice Leader for Public Health and Epidemiologyin the Health Division of Abt Associates, Inc. Shehas more than 40 years of experience in developingand implementing programs, policies and systemchange, research and evaluation on a broad rangeof health policy issues. She examined child visioncare from a public health perspective at the AustinLecture.Child vision care in this country is abominable, shesaid. Undetected and untreated eye disorders suchas amblyopia, strabismus and uncorrected refractiveerrors are major child health problems that areassociated with poor reading and poor schooloutcomes.“Shame on us, because many of these can beprevented,” she said.Twenty-five percent of school-age children sufferfrom vision problems that could have beeneliminated or addressed with appropriate screeningand referral in place, Walker said.Early detection and treatment is essential foraddressing child vision problems, but one challengeis the U.S. does not have uniform regulations.Professional optometry and ophthalmologyassociations support screening and examinationsbut the recommendations are not consistent. Staterequirements for vision screenings for preschooland above are not consistent across the country.In 2007, 16 states had no vision requirement forchildren entering school or throughout the school18 Western University of Health Sciences