Giving back goes both ways

Posted on October 20th, 2009 by Jill N |

Lorie U. (right) poses with a patient after helping her select glasses.

Lorie U. is a mobile response team member and works in VSP’s Provider Services department. This is her second trip with the mobile clinic and she recounts her experience during the recent York, PA event.

Saturday, we broke a record by seeing 91 patients. We saw mothers, fathers, kids, grandparents…a wide array of people all with their own story.

At one point during the day, four sisters came in, little girls ages 3-8. They were not so sure about the idea of having glasses, none had them previously. One of the sisters tried on the Disney “Snow White” frames . When I asked her if she felt like a princess in the glasses, her face lit up, she giggled & nodded. I hope she feels like that every time she wears them.

I also met Muhktar, a 17-year-old in desperate need of new glasses—he had has his for many years, they were way too small for his face & it turned out that his prescription had changed quite a bit. He had a very strong prescription-so strong that the lab had to double check the Rx. We got him fitted with some really cool Sean Jean frames. His father was elated that his son would now have a better chance of going to college, being able to actually see will be so helpful when it comes to his studies.

Thank you to the wonderful doctors and rotary volunteers who spent their Saturday helping others. There are a lot of people having a hard time these days, who need a little help. I cannot count how many times I heard “Thank you…you don’t know how much this means to me…how much I needed this” today. As a volunteer, I concur, it means a lot to me to be able to help & I really need it too—it fills my heart to be able to give back.