MADISON COUNTY, Ala. – You know all about HEALS, Inc. and the impact the nonprofit clinic makes by providing dental and medical services to some of the neediest families across Madison County.
But did you know – they also provide optometry services at two clinics in the county?
The two dental clinics are located at Morris Elementary and Madison Cross Roads Elementary.
Kathy Henderson has held multiple jobs within HEALS, such as filling in with the dental clinic, and helping with data entry and in the administrative office.
However, her main job is assisting in the optometry clinics.
She said not only has HEALS been a great job for her, but the community has embraced it in a way she’s never seen.
“HEALS is exceptional. What they offer this community and the under-served children of Madison County is phenomenal. I’ve never been involved with anything like it and the support we get back from the Huntsville community is bar none, something like I’ve never seen”
HEALS Optometry is everything you’d see in a traditional eye doctor office (exams, taking care of eye health, ordering and fitting glasses), but there’s something more – they deliver glasses to kids at both schools.
Henderson says delivery is a competitive job, because it means so much to all the HEALS staff.
“Once a child gets their glasses and they put them on right away, it’s just a whole new world for them. I wish we could film going to take glasses to a child one day, because all the clinic coordinators want to do it.”
For some kids, the new glasses are life-changing. Henderson remembers one patient in particular.
“The child was just having such a difficult time learning, and she had been labeled as ADHD and they were getting ready to put her on all different medications. So they came to see us at the optometry office at Madison Cross Roads. Come to find out, the little girl couldn’t see! So we corrected her vision and she had no more learning problems, no more behavior problems. It just goes to show how important vision correction is.”
But changing lives and opening up a new world for some kids is something that’s not easy to keep up with. You can help HEALS, Inc. continue their mission.
How to Donate
HEALS, Inc. served more than 2,000 patients in 2019. They can’t serve the families of Madison County without financial support. If you’d like to help financially, please click the donate button below.
If you can’t help financially, please consider donating supplies or donate your time by volunteering. The HEALS, Inc. website has all the information you need.
