Testimonials
Check out these testimonies and stories from some of our EPI Ohana patients...
"They felt frustrated..."
A few years ago I brought my two sons (Zachary and Christopher) for eye check up because they sometimes complained of blurry vision. Both children were experiencing difficulties at home and in school with concentration and organization. They felt frustrated and at times wanted to give up trying. They struggled to maintain their grades to B. After your initial check with the boys, you diagnosed them to having astigmatism and you prescribed them to wear glasses.
This past June Zachary graduated from high school with honors and even received a scholarship. He now attends college and plans to study Pharmacology. Christopher is in the 6th grade and his goal is to be on the Principal's List. We received his 1st quarter report card and he is few points away from achieving the Principal's List.
My children have gained much confidence and they now set goals for themselves. They both enjoy reading books and challenge each other and their friends to read the most books each month and during the school breaks. They also write summaries of each book read to practice their writing and proof that they have actually read the books.
We want to thank you and your staff for the excellent service you provide. You and your staff also treat my family like we are part of yours. I realize that taking care of our eyes are for all ages, not just for adults. You take time to understand each of your patients and I feel it is a very important part to caring for the individual. We appreciate you taking care of our family and helping each one of us improve and enjoy life.
Sincerely,
M.B.
M.B.
"How do you thank someone for something like that?"
For a couple of weeks my eight year old son, Zachary, was having migraine-like headaches everyday after school. His headaches were so bad that he had to take an hour and a half nap after school in order to feel well enough to begin his homework. I had a history of migraine headaches so I took him to the pediatrician for a check. The pediatrician didn't find anything wrong and recommended that he have his eyes checked before considering an MRI.
I took him to Dr. Makini for an eye exam. I didn't think at first it would be his eyes. Dr. Makini felt right away that his headaches were caused by his eyes when I told him that the headaches seemed to begin the same time and every time he began doing computer lab at the end of the school day.
Dr. Makini told me after examining Zachary that my son had the eye characteristic of extra farsightedness that frequently causes children to over focus at near when reading. Dr. Makini recommended having my Zachary use glasses for reading in school and at home.
Immediately, the headaches ceased and the glasses were a success, but happened later was an even greater success. Prior to my son's headaches, he had been tutored for awhile in reading due his lower reading performance which had unfortunately been a discouragement to Zachary. Well, just six weeks after wearing his glasses, he went up two reading levels and was reading one level above his expected reading level. My son felt very proud of himself which made my husband and I very happy.
My husband mentioned to Dr. Makini that he knew what it was like to be a poor reader growing up and how it affected his confidence in school. He couldn't express how thankful he was that his son would not have to go through the same ordeal that he did. Thinking of how promising his child's future can now be without that visual hindrance he said to Dr. Makini, "How do you thank someone for something like that?"
B.O.
Zachary's Mom
Zachary's Mom
"No Drugs, No School"
An 8 year old second grader first brought to my attention the misdiagnosis of ADHD within our public schools. The school he attended has diagnosed him with ADHD but his mom was unwilling to medicated him. The school hired a psychiatrist, pediatrician and a psychologist to test him for ADHD. All three confirmed that the boy did have ADHD and met with the mom along with the vice-principal and the teacher. Still resistant to the idea to medicate her son, she was informed that if she didn't medicate her son, he would not be allowed to attend the school and her name would be referred to Child Protective Services because of her interfering with her child's welfare. She hired a lawyer to buy some time to have her son tested by her doctors. This is when I came into the picture. His mom was my patient. Prior to examining this boy, I never questioned the diagnosis of ADHD with children who were my patients. ADHD belongs to psychiatry not eye care.
After examining him, I did find low to moderate Astigmatism in both eyes. I explained to the Mom that Astigmatism is a concentration stealing eye characteristic. To correct his Astigmatism while at school would improve his learning concentration, but I couldn't guarantee that those ADHD behaviors reported by the school would be resolved. As soon as he began to wear the glasses the teacher noticed the difference. The teacher said that when he wore his glasses, he was a totally different student able to follow and concentrate. The school did not accept his eyes being the reason for his ADHD-like behavior in the classroom right away. After a few months of following him, the school dropped the diagnosis.
What courage this mom had to stand up to so many educated people when others would have assumed with all their years of education, they must have known better not to mention withstanding the threat of CPS. How could these five professionals, a teacher, a vice-principal, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist and a psychologist be all in agreement and yet be wrong? The answer is unfortunately too simple. It is the program within the schools that promote the treatment of ADHD that is at fault. There are not enough checks and balances within the program. This is why the public awareness project called SAVE (Supporting Academic & Visual Excellence) was created. Besides providing awareness about these mistakes happening in our schools, the other purpose of the project is to do just what it spells Save. The futures of our children are far too precious to be destroyed by the harmful mistakes of programs that would affect them negatively for the rest of their lives.
An excerpt
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs
"Your daughter cannot be taught to read."
One afternoon, as I was passing through my daughter's elementary school's office on my way to pick her up from the health room when all of sudden I passed by a mother crying in the doorway of a counselor's office. Her voice sounded so woeful with such disappointment. When I was out in the parking lot, I had a chance to approach her and asked if everything was alright. At the time, I was running for State Senate for the district and I was approaching everyone shaking their hands and asking them for their support. But, this time I was more concerned about her child. I asked her if I could be of any assistance. She easily began to tell me what was going on with her six year old daughter who was having difficulty learning to read in school.
The Mom was filled with so much frustration because her daughter was moved from one school to another because the special education at the first school couldn't teach her to read. Now, the second school's special education department was reporting the same thing and added further that her daughter could not be taught to read.
I asked the Mom if her daughter had ever had an eye exam before and she said yes, but only the one that is given at the pediatrician's office. I explained how that test was a screening test and not an exam. Not to seem like I was cruising parking lots looking to drum up business for myself, I offered to examine her pro-bono and we got her in. I found that she had moderate extra-farsightedness which made her eyes strain physically whenever she focused close to her face such as when she would look at a book to read. I explained to the Mom how this would extra effort by the eyes distracted the concentration of the brain to the point that very minimal concentration was left to mentally concentrate on reading. I gave the Mom a written eye glass prescription for her to get for her daughter and told her to have her daughter use them full-time in the classroom and at home whenever she would read, write or use the computer.
A few weeks later, while I was out in the neighborhood holding signs and waving to passing cars for my campaign, I saw that little girl again and her Mom coming toward me on the sidewalk. The Mom began by saying that they were driving by and her daughter recognized me and wanted to her Mom to pull over and stop. She wanted to personally thank me for helping her and how happy she is with her new glasses because she is now able to read and she loves it!
An excerpt
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs
"A Wonderful Gift"
My daughter Courtney would constantly complain about headaches. We would give her aspirin, make her lie down and even took her to the doctor. Everything would come back normal. We never thought about checking her eyes. Since I work in Kapolei, I heard many good things said about Dr. Makini from fellow colleagues so I decided to schedule an appointment for my daughter. Dr. Makini checked her eyes and found she has a slight astigmatism. She was fitted for glasses. Since that day, Courtney has never complained about headaches and her grades improved 100%. Her teacher has also seen this improvement. Thanks Dr. Makini for the wonderful gift you have given my daughter.
Courtney's Mom
"Hard Time Focusing"
My daughter, Keely, constantly rubbed her eyes, had a hard time focusing on her school work and would constantly complain about being tired. After reading Dr. Makini's article in the newspaper about some of the symptoms children express sometimes unnoticed, I decided to bring my daughter in for an exam. Keely now wears her glasses proudly. Now, she can see her work clearly, she's stopped rubbing her eyes and her grades have improved a lot. All these accomplishments have come with the help, love and caring of Dr. Makini! Thank you!
P.H.
Keely's Mom
Keely's Mom
"Graduated with Honors"
One afternoon, I was telling this one patient how appreciative I was for allowing me to serve their family for so many years. I had been seeing him, his wife, and his daughter who is now in college. He responded with a "No, We thank you!" He went on to remind me that they've been with me ever since they brought their daughter who was in intermediate school at the time and I prescribed her reading glasses because her eyes tended to tire too soon whenever she read. Before she was having difficulty with her reading and her grades, but since she had begun using her reading glasses, her reading and her grades had improved so significantly that she ended up graduating with honors!
An excerpt
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs
"Big Difference"
The eyeglasses that Dr. Makini prescribed for my child really made a difference. Her grades dramatically improved along with her behavior in the classroom. It can only be attributed to her new eye glasses and eye care.
A.A.
Mother & School Teacher
Mother & School Teacher
"An Inspiration"
One of my earliest cases that inspired me to find a more user friendly method to train external eye muscle control development came when a 6th grade boy from the local middle school was reading at a 4th grade level. The exam found him with 20/20 acuity far and near without any correction needed his eye control was noticeably under-developed and his Mom wanted my opinion as to whether his eyes were the reason for his poor reading comprehension.
I wasn't totally convinced whether improving this single eye skill would make such an impact on his reading performance, but I recommended some eye exercises any way. You have to understand that many of my recommendations that are given to patients are like New Year resolutions they do them for a day or two and then forget about them.
This time it was different, she had him do the exercises every day for almost one year. And unlike the others, she got results. At her son's next visit to the office she told me know how his reading had significantly improved along with his grades after doing the exercises I recommended. It was from this experience that the Home Training Program for Elementary Readers was birthed.
An excerpt
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs
from Dr. Makini's Memoirs