The Berrien County Health Department is inviting everyone to its annual Back to School Bash planned for this month.

Department hearing and vision coordinator Melissa Jordan tells us before the start of each school year, they hold the gathering as a way for parents to make sure their school-age children are up to date on all vaccination and screening requirements.

“We offer hearing and vision screenings, as well as dental screenings and immunizations,” Jordan said. “So it’s a one-stop shop for all those last-minute details.”

Jordan says parents of young children sometimes don’t realize their little one needs glasses. She sees it all of the time.

“Just recently, we discovered one of our students had a pretty significant vision loss and the parents were concerned as well as we were, and come to find out they needed a pretty significant scrip. So we were able to help them get into a scrip, and now they’re going to be successful into school due to that process.”

Jordan says the Back to School Bash is also fun for the kids because they’ll have games, giveaways, cotton candy, and popcorn. Plus, the first 250 kids in attendance will get a free backpack.

The Back to School Bash will be on Thursday, August 21 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the health department’s Benton Harbor location on Napier Avenue. You can learn more right here.

Jordan says in the past school year, the Berrien County Health Department has screened the hearing and vision of nearly 8,000 children.