Chapel Hill doctor provides free eye screenings to Special Olympics athletes

It looks a lot like an assembly line with patients moving from one station to the next.

"Can you look right up here for me?" said Dr. Jason Minton.

Minton and a group of volunteers, many of whom are aspiring doctors, are performing eye exams in a huge room.

"More or less what you would have done at your routine eye exam, we're capable of doing here," Minton said.

Minton is an optometrist who lives in Chapel Hill and a couple of times a year he volunteers his time to do this kind of work.

"It makes me happy," he said. "Honestly, I think I get just as much out of this as anyone else."

Minton is the clinical director for Opening Eyes. The program gives Special Olympics athletes in North Carolina a chance to see an eye doctor, something that can be hard to do if you don't have medical benefits. This particular screening was held during the Special Olympics Summer Games at North Carolina State University.

"A lot of these athletes, this is the only health care they are able to get throughout the year," Minton said.

The free screenings come with free glasses, which can be fit to each patient's prescription on site.

"It's really rewarding. It's instant gratification," Minton said.

"I can't see before. Now I can see better," said Ward Mongold, a Special Olympics athlete looking through his brand new glasses for the first time.

"We've had athletes' relatives break down in tears when we've given them their glasses," Minton said, "because they've needed them for a long time and this was the only way they could get them."

The Opening Eyes program had faded a few years back without a doctor to run it. That's when Minton stepped in. He has a personal experience with Special Olympics and always wanted to give back. As a high school student he played on a softball team that combined individuals without intellectual disabilities with Special Olympics athletes.

"I always say, once it gets in your bones it stays there forever," he said.

Minton has been running Opening Eyes for five years now and holds a couple of screenings a year. The glasses and equipment are all donated by the program's sponsors.