VSP Blog » mobile clinic

Hindsight: A Look Back at My First 2 Years with Eyenstein

David C — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:00:43 +0000

Today’s post is written by guest blogger Smith Wyckoff, an Associate Marketing Manager with Transitions Optical. Smith manages the mobile clinics partnership with VSP.

The clinic staff gather together with a patient at the Illumination Foundation event.

Looking back on the 2^nd year of Transitions Optical’s partnership with the VSP Mobile Eyes program, I am thoroughly impressed at the way this outreach program delivers on its promise to provide eyecare and eyewear to those in need. In every community across the United States, there are those who cannot afford proper eyecare and often are unaware that their vision needs correction. At each and every event, we provide comprehensive eye exams and glasses to those who need them. The response is resoundingly gracious and humbling to those who volunteer their time. It’s always especially gratifying to see patients’ faces light up when they learn that not only are they getting brand new eyeglasses, they are also getting them fitted with Transitions lenses that very day! [Note: this is for patient’s seen on the Eyenstein mobile clinic.]

Since VSP founded the program after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and Southeast Texas in 2005, in 2011, we had the opportunity to provide crisis outreach after a series of tornadoes ripped through northern Alabama and Joplin, Missouri. For over 7 weeks, the clinics team was able to see hundreds of patients who had lost their homes and possessions. For those of us requiring vision correction, try to imagine how difficult it would be to go a day without glasses – let alone all of your other possessions. Throughout this relief program, the Mobile Clinics team was aided by volunteers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry. Similarly, In Joplin, the Missouri Optometric Association stepped in to provide assistance.

Folks wait outside the clinic to have their eyes examined

Over the past two years, we’ve visited over 50 organizations and seen nearly 3,000 patients. Our partnership clinic, Eyenstein, has traveled across America from our headquarters near Tampa, Florida, to help organizations in Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and many, many more. At Transitions Optical, we’ve supported nearly all of these events with volunteer support and have had almost 30 employees participate to date including kid-focused events at schools for our Eye Didn’t Know That! activities. The roles at these events vary from trip to trip, but we could not be a valued partner with VSP without our volunteers and I am extremely thankful for those who have spent time on Eyenstein.

In true Transitions Optical style, we have set out to find opportunities to partner through outreach with industry leaders. To date, in addition to those mentioned above, we’ve held successful events with the Essilor Vision Foundation, Prevent Blindness America, SVS Vision, Hoya, the Georgia Optometric Association, and the National Optometric Association. We’re always looking for the right partners to help bring more impact to outreach events.

Sometimes patients have needs that go beyond 20/20 vision correction. This is where VSP’s comprehensive vision exam trumps traditional vision screenings. The volunteer doctors onboard Eyenstein detect cases of amblyopia (lazy eye) on almost every trip. This condition is easily corrected if caught early enough. We have also detected juvenile diabetes, high blood pressure, detached retinas, and other disorders that can impact much more than just vision – and many can be corrected if detected early enough.

During my most recent outreach in November – helping the homeless population of Orange County, California – I was taken aback by the sheer volume of health services being provided: flu shots, dental checks, hearing exams, pregnancy tests, STD diagnosis, and rows upon row of people waiting patiently for eye exams. A special thanks to the Illumination Foundation for all that they do and for holding this annual event that helps so many.

I’m excited to see where 2012 takes us and how we can improve the current program to see more patients and continue to give back and increase the awareness of both comprehensive eye exams and protecting your eyes.

VSP Mobile Clinic Stops at Loaves and Fishes

Kay — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:01:22 +0000

VSP Optometrist Wesley Umeda, O.D., examines a patient in-need onboard the VSP Mobile Eyes Clinic

I am constantly reading the blogs and articles from the VSP Mobile Clinic team and it always seemed like the people who participate have such rewarding experiences–I used to think it was just a marketing strategy. That is until I joined up with Lori F., Vicki A., and the Mobile Clinics team at the Loaves and Fishes event this month in Sacramento. Talk about an eye opener!!! I arrived at the location at 8:00 am to help set up and was immediately approached by numerous people from Friendship Park asking how they could get an appointment to see the eye doctor. I directed them to the event coordinator for Loaves and Fishes, but many of them were not seen at the clinic that day because patients had already been pre-registered.

Once the patients started arriving, I quickly realized exactly what the other Mobile Clinic volunteers had been blogging about. The people we saw are often overlooked in society–most of them carrying everything they own in a backpack. And yet, the energy and excitement they exuded was intoxicating. I heard more laughter and saw more smiles on their faces than at the mall on a weekend.

As the morning rolled on, the line continued to grow and it started heating up outside. There was really nothing we could do to speed up the process as so many patients were getting their eyes dilated and had to wait inside for the doctor to reexamine them. Jessie, a VSP Intern and fellow MRT, did such an amazing job with the people waiting outside and making sure all of the paperwork was in order so that we could focus on getting the patients in and out as quickly as possible. I will never forget one of the patients named Brandy. She was so tired of waiting to see the doctor and was getting incredibly grumpy, so we invited her to wait in the clinic in the air conditioning. She tried so hard to stay mad, but once she and I started picking out her frames there was nothing that could wipe the smile off of her face.

Dr. Umeda, Dr. Swan and Dr. Kim, VSP doctors who volunteered their time, all did such an amazing job with the patients. People kept telling me how nice they were to them. It is so easy to take the kind of care I receive from my VSP doctor for granted, and it was just one of many reminders I had that day of just how blessed I am. I feel kind of selfish for having gotten so much out of this experience when we were there to be giving to others, but I truly felt like I was doing something that made a difference. So many of the people I met during the event were so gracious and grateful to us for helping them to see. Without my glasses I can see about 6 inches from my face, so I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it is to have to go through life not being able to see what’s going on around me.

I would like to say a big thank you to Loaves and Fishes for everything they do for the people in our community. I have always known VSP was a special place to work and am so grateful that our company not only gives back to the community, but allows and encourages its employees to do the same. This event hit close to home for me and opened my eyes to so many of the things in life that I take for granted. I cannot wait for the next opportunity I get to volunteer with the Mobile Clinics!

VSP will participate in the largest-ever free healthcare event in the U.S.

David C — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:30:49 +0000

This week, we are heading down to the Los Angeles Sports Arena to provide vision care services in the largest-ever free healthcare event in the U.S. to date. The four-day clinic (Thursday through Sunday) will bring eye doctors together with hundreds of physicians, dentists, nurses, and general volunteers to service thousands of people in need.

VSP will be providing free eye exams and prescription eye glasses at the four-day event. We’ll have one of our mobile clinics and several additional portable exam lanes to help see as many people as possible. We’re expecting to see about 2,000 patients!

Other services offered at the clinic include physical exams, immunizations, mammograms, PAP smears, diabetes screenings, and dental cleanings and dental work.

And for those of you Dr. Oz fans, he’ll be there, too! Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook, and Twitter channels for our updates about the event over the next few days.

Local residents: please note that you must have a wristband to be admitted.
To learn more about the event, including wristband information, click here.

SeeZar and Bess the Book Bus head to Detroit

David C — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:12:42 +0000

SeeZar, one of VSP’s mobile eye clinics, is in Detroit, Michigan for a two-day vision clinic. VSP is providing free comprehensive eye exams and eyewear to many local children. Bess the Book Bus, a traveling literacy outreach program, is also there to hand out free books! Check out the short clip from our event below and read the full article here.

We’re also excited to share a new milestone! VSP’s Sight for Students^® program, which provides low income and uninsured children with free eyecare, has helped more than 600,000 children receive an eye exam and glasses to correct vision- and health-related issues. More on this announcement.

Helping kids in Georgia see clearly for back to school

Lisa P. — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:59:17 +0000

VSP is partnering with the Georgia Optometric Association and St. Mary’s Community Center this week to provide free eyecare and eyewear to children in need in Savannah, Georgia.

VSP’s brought its mobile eye clinic, SeeZar, to Savannah on Monday, and with the help of local optometrists, will continue this service to pre-selected children until Wednesday, August 11.

Here is a clip from WSAV-TV featuring a young patient seen on the clinic Monday, August 9.

I Heart Milwaukee

Jill N — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:00:04 +0000

Jill N. is a member of VSP's Corporate Public Relations team.

We boarded a plane in Sacramento early Sunday morning ready to spread our wings and go where neither of us had ever gone before … to Milwaukee. The land of brats, brews and cheese. Three of my favorite things. However, I quickly reminded myself this was not a trip about me. This was a trip about people I hadn’t yet met, but were looking forward to us being there in more ways than I could ever imagine.

SeeZar arrived at the Northside YMCA in Milwaukee early Monday morning with our Mobile Clinic staff transforming him from an RV into a fully functioning doctors office just in time for our first patient of the day at 9am. For VSP Doctors John Warren, O.D. and Chap Leffinwell, O.D. it was revolving door of patients for rest of the day.

We received a visit from the local Fox affiliate, Fox 6 News, and had the pleasure of introducing the Mobile Eyes program to their viewers. It was during this time we met Alice and her two sons who all were in need of an eye exam (it had been years since they had one) and new eyewear. Alice showed us her current glasses, readers she bought at Wal-Mart, that were so stretched out they barely stayed on her face. But as she noted, they worked. However, she wasn’t surprised to learn she needed more than readers as she noticed her eyes had been straining for awhile.

Her older son is a baseball player and revealed he’s had trouble seeing far away, at night and, more recently, has trouble focusing on items close up after losing his glasses over a year ago. Being able to see better is something he knows will help him both in school and playing baseball. Such a simple realization to most people but such a powerful example of why the Mobile Eyes program is so important.

When Alice and the boys finish up to leave, I find myself enveloped in her arms for one of the biggest hugs I have ever

received. It is these moments that make our day. We are off for day two of outreach in Milwaukee and I can’t wait to see who we will meet today…and have some more cheese.