Sun Valley Elementary Students Receive Free Health Screening Via KidCheck Plus, With Continued Technology Support From The Verizon Foundation

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Feb. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sight Savers America (SSA) KidCheck Plus Program, an award-winning children's health screening program in Alabama, conducted free screenings for children at Sun Valley Elementary School in Birmingham. During the screening, The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic institution of Verizon, presented a $30,000 grant to SSA as part of the Foundation's ongoing support of KidCheck Plus. Verizon's support of KidCheck Plus now totals $150,000 in grant funding.

KidCheck Plus provides head to toe school-based health screenings to children in underserved parts of Alabama. UAB School of Nursing students working under faculty supervision will conduct the screenings. Health screening checkpoints include:

• Height and weight
• BMI
• Blood Pressure and temperature
• Vision
• Dental and hearing
• Heart and lung sounds
• Heart and respiratory rates
• Skin and musculoskeletal
• Eyes, ears, nose and throat exams.

Through a series of grants from the Verizon Foundation, KidCheck Plus has developed a customized wireless software platform to capture all health screening results with pass/fail baselines to immediately highlight indications of potential health concerns and abnormalities. The software generates an individual screening result form that is sent home to parents and also provided to school nurses. SSA provides case management for children failing the vision screening. Expeditious results and point-of-care recommendations are enabled by the software system, developed by KidCheck Plus, as well as mobile technology support from Verizon Wireless.

"Access to healthcare shouldn't be impeded by inefficient work processes like manual paperwork, a lack of Internet access or any other aspect of the digital divide," said Julie Smith, vice-president of external affairs, Verizon south area. "The KidCheck Plus program is a great example of how mobile technology can be deployed to make an impactful and positive difference in families' lives. This is at the heart of the criteria the Verizon Foundation seeks when it selects its partner organizations."

For more information, volunteering opportunities or to make a donation to Sight Savers America's KidCheck Plus program please visit www.kidcheckplus.org.

About The Verizon Foundation
The Verizon Foundation helps people to live healthy, safe and independent lives by addressing disparities in education, health care and sustainability. Since 2000, the Verizon Foundation has invested more than half a billion dollars to improve the communities where Verizon employees work and live.  Verizon's employees are generous with their donations and their time, having logged more than 6.2 million hours of service to make a positive difference in their communities. For more information, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 98 million retail connections nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with nearly $116 billion in 2012 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 183,400.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

SOURCE Verizon Foundation