WACO, Texas — Families attending the Waco Family Festival took advantage of free screenings and testing.
- Families received free testing and screenings
- Kids walked away with vaccines and immunizations
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"The rents higher, utilities are higher, food is higher. Things are just not the same in the world anymore," said Christine, a grandmother and attendee.
As the price of items goes up, one of our neighbors said keeping up with immunizations and vision testing for her grandchildren is expensive. To cut expenses the Waco Family Fest held their annual event to get kids registered for school and offer free health screenings.
"I want them to be able to have a true opportunity to be able to see right, hear right so they can learn better in school. If they don't have that they're not going to be able to pass the grades and stuff," said Christine.
Because eye exams can be costly, many children go without them. Jim Swanson, a member of the Lions Club, says they provide free eye exams to help needy families.
Passing school and being an attentive student is something the Lions Club makes a priority.
Swanson said vision screening is critical when it comes to academic success.
"When you're trying to learn but your vision is such and you're not really seeing the words very well so you get behind and they become disruptive in class. If they're not learning they're being disruptive," said Swanson.
Another critical part is immunizations. One health expert said getting shots can add to the cost of health screenings.
"It can range anywhere from $25 to $100 so we do vaccines for a very lost cost rate. If they don't have insurance, they can come in and get it for $10 and they can get all the vaccines they need," said Tonya McClennan.
Christine said taking her grandkids to events like this prevents her son from taking a day off so he can focus on supporting his family.
"They can't always come to these functions. So it takes a family, a whole family to participate," said Christine.
