Their weapon of choice is the PhotoScreener, their territory is Tennessee and beyond, their targeted beneficiaries are children younger than six and their enemy is "lazy eye," a rather benign description for a disorder that is a leading cause of blindness.

Funded by LCIF, the Tennessee Lions Eye Center at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has screened 82,203 children for amblyopia (lazy eye) and vision problems since 1997.

The battle has produced significant results. The screenings have uncovered 1,980 children with amblyogenic factors, which, if not treated before kindergarten, can be very difficult or impossible to treat. In fact, amblyopia the leading cause of blindness in one eye in people younger than 20.

The screening is necessary because parents often have no clue their child is at risk. Rachel Stanton, 2, was recently screened by the Tennessee Lions Eye Center Outreach Program at her daycare center. The screening showed that her one eye wasn't seeing as well as the other, putting her at risk for amblyopia. "I'd never have known something was wrong," Michelle Stanton, her mother, told the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.

Lions in Tennessee travel to daycare centers, nursery schools and other group settings with the PhotoScreener. Trained staff at the Vanderbilt Ophthalmic Imaging Center (Reading Center) analyze the photographs they take. Children determined to be at risk for amblyopia are referred to eye care professionals.

LCIF's support of the Tennessee Lions' photoscreening efforts began with a Core 4 grant of US$177,170 in 1999. The grant was one of the first under the Core 4 program, which funds large-scale projects in four categories including preservation of eyesight.

LCIF also has provided standard grants to help finance the construction of the Tennessee Lions Eye Center and the Vanderbilt pediatric ophthalmology clinic and to hire personnel to conduct follow-up phone calls for referred children from the screenings. The grants actually reach far beyond the state's borders: the Tennessee Lions' photoscreening program has served as a model for Lions in 13 other states. Outreach Program staff and Tennessee Lions train volunteers and run orientations for out-of-state administrative staff and volunteers.

The Tennessee Lions are proud of their program and persistent in making sure parents understand the screening results. Kim Eubank's son failed his eye screening. "The Lions Eye Center contacted me at work and urged me to bring my son in for further screening. I kind of blew it off at first," she recalled.

But the urgency of the phone call convinced her to return. "He had only 5 percent vision in his right eye," she said. "If I had waited until he was older he would have been legally blind in his right eye. Because of the early detection his condition is correctable."