Kids Vision for Life St. Louis works with over 150 school nurses and administrators to bring no-cost vision services to local students in the St. Louis area. Our school contacts are a crucial aspect of our program as they are in direct contact with both students and parents as they schedule KVFL school visits.

In our newest segment, Notes from a Nurse, KVFL will highlight multiple school nurses to discuss the role KVFL has played in their school. This week we spoke with Chantez Hopgood, the lead nurse of the Jennings School District.

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Chantez Hopgood, Jennings District Lead Nurse

KVFL provides vision services for the four following schools in the Jennings School District: Fairview, Kenneth Hanrahan, Northview, and Woodland. Chantez Hopgood, Lead Nurse of the Jennings School District, has worked with KVFL over the past five years to schedule school visits for the district.

Before KVFL, students in the district were screened by the nurse and sent home with referral forms if vision issues were detected. Parents were responsible for then taking their child to have their vision further evaluated by their primary care physician or eye doctor. Nurse Hopgood believes that the KVFL program has been a true blessing for the students in Jennings as the vision services are provided on-site at each individual building.

“The convenience of KVFL coming to our school…saves the parent from taking off work or trying to find an eye doctor for their kids. Parents really appreciate it. I appreciate it because all the kids that failed their vision [screening] get the glasses they need to be successful in school.”

Last year, 75 students in the Jennings district received an eye exam through KVFL. The number of exams increased during the 2016-17 school year to 83 students.

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Please consider a donation to KVFL this upcoming Give STL Day on May 11th. Your donation will go directly to a St. Louis student in need. More information can be found at: https://www.givestlday.org/kidsvisionforlifestlouis