Rich Shaff: sights set on children’s vision screening

Chances are most of us have sought out Rich Shaff of Ithaca for advice on dropping off prescriptions, whether at CVS (when it was on The Commons), Rite Aid (when it was on Meadow Street), Woolworth’s (when it was downtown) or at Cayuga Medical Center, where Rich started as a pharmacist 20 years ago and later became the pharmacist informatics specialist.

Many of us have turned to Rich for pharmaceutical advice, as perhaps Ithaca’s best-known pharmacist. If we haven’t turned to Rich in times of need, then we probably have had fun with him on the CMSA or Salvation Army boards or singing in the Ithaca Community Chorus.

But Rich’s favorite gig is volunteering with the Ithaca Lions Club since 1985.

“Someone invited me to dinner,” he said. “They had just donated 11 TTY [teletypewriter] devices for deaf children to the Lions [Club], and that was it.”

Volunteering has taken Rich — often accompanied by his wife, Linda, current Lions Club president — to Russia to sing Rachmaninoff with the Ithaca Community Chorus.

When Russia’s Children Chorus accepted the Ithaca Community Chorus’s invitation to visit Ithaca, Rich and the Lions hosted their young guests at the Lions Club’s Camp Badger in Spencer, a Corning Community College concert and the Corning Museum, with much coordination and generosity from fellow Lions.

All and all, Rich said he has traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and has visited other countries, including Japan, the UK, Ireland and Canada, as part of international Lions Club events and volunteer projects.

For now, Rich, fellow Ithaca Lions Club member Ron Seacord and Optometrist Dr. Ted Bryant of Clarity Vision at 1284 Dryden Rd. in Ithaca are devoting time to growing the Ithaca Lions’ Preschool Vision Program. Currently, they are scheduled to begin screening Head Start children in Tompkins County within the next couple of weeks.

They are ready to begin free screenings for preschoolers, taking their equipment — including the Plusoptix Vision Screener — to local schools, day care centers and in-home day care programs, subject to COVID-19 precautions.

“One of the conditions the Plusoptix camera screens for is lazy eye,” Rich said. “Amblyopia is reduced vision in one eye, which is tragically common among young children. The weaker, ‘lazy’ eye wanders inward or outward and is the leading cause of decreased vision among children. If diagnosed and treated before the kids turn 6 or 7, the prospect of recovery is good. New York state has made headway with providing medical insurance for vision screening, but there is not enough pediatric screening going on.”

The specialized Plusoptix camera for screening children was obtained with support from several Finger Lakes Lions Clubs and is used by other Lions Clubs nationwide. Members can now screen more children, including local Head Start preschoolers, who have been screened by Lions’ volunteers since 2004. Ted has agreed to continue to volunteer his expertise and time.

“We would like to hear from day care providers, day care centers, pre-K and elementary school administrators and parents seeking screening for children,” Rich said. “Have need; will travel.”

So, ask your day care directors and school administrators to help our community’s children have the opportunity for free vision screening by local experts we know and admire.

Rich explains that the Ithaca Lions’ preschool screening is in addition to its current Free Vision Clinic, held at the Ithaca Free Clinic.

“Fellow Lions member Ted Bryant … proposed the Lions create an optical services program,” Rich said. “When we approached Norbert McCloskey, director of the Ithaca Health Alliance’s Ithaca Free Clinic, Norbert’s response was an immediate ‘yes.’”

The Lions Club project partnership was launched in 2019. IFC handles all the administrative details. The Ithaca Lions Club, with a generous gift from member Jim Rider, provided the equipment.

The vision services are provided by volunteer doctors and opticians, and every hourly appointment was filled until COVID-19 necessitated temporary suspension. The Vision Clinic is now open again to anyone in need. The partnership between the Lions Club and the Ithaca Free Clinic and staff is a winning combination.

Rich shared an example Ted gave him about the difference the Free Clinic has made.

“A young farmworker, who had recently come to the United States, was excited to be starting a job on a local farm,” Rich said. “Although he was very nearsighted, he had no glasses, which made it difficult to see things at a distance. He was thrilled when he obtained a screening and we gave him his glasses, so he could work more safely and efficiently.”

For more information about the Ithaca Lions Free Vision Clinic and their Children’s Vision Screening Project, contact Rich at (607) 220-4893 or shaff@verizon.net or visit ithacalions.com. For more information about the Ithaca Lions Club, contact Linda Shaff at the same number or call (607) 330-1254.