Third-year optometry student Kiley Stout, along with her fellow students, has witnessed the role that eye care plays in learning firsthand as part of a partnership between UMSL and the Ritenour School District’s Husky Health Center. The Husky Health Center, which the school district opened in a former church last fall, allows students to access little-to-no-cost medical care and behavioral health services during school hours. UMSL students are now providing eye exams to Ritenour students as part of this new collaboration. Stout said, “Seeing this firsthand reinforced my belief that optometry plays a key role in a child’s success and strengthened my commitment to making eye care accessible, community-focused, and impactful.”
The partnership between UMSL and the Husky Health Center has been in the works since last fall, and UMSL students officially began seeing patients in early January. Within the Husky Health Center, the College of Optometry has its own dedicated office and two fully equipped exam lanes. Each week, third-year students provide comprehensive eye exams to Ritenour students ranging in age from pre-K to 12th grade. Students who need glasses have their measurements taken, choose from a selection of frames, and pick up their glasses from the school nurse when they’re ready.
For now, each UMSL student is spending just one full day working in the Husky Health Center, but the experience has still left a lasting mark. Students have noted that working in the Husky Health Center gave them more experience with pediatric exams and the eye conditions that go along with them and allowed them to further develop their pediatric clinical and medical decision-making skills. Larry Kosmerick, another third-year optometry student, saw several patients during his time at Husky Health Center, including one who was still having trouble seeing after getting new glasses a few months earlier from a separate source. Kosmerick was able to get her fitted for a new pair of glasses with the correct prescription, and the Husky Health Center will continue to follow up with her to see if her vision improves.
