District 33Y EyeMobile
Mission:
To carry out their mission of "We Serve," the Lions Clubs of District 33-Y of Western Massachusetts will purchase and operate an EyeMobile to provide a new level of service to their communities.
The EyeMobile will provide a vital service by facilitating the detection of:
- Eye disease, such as Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy, and Macular Degeneration
- Vision loss
- Hearing loss
- High Blood Pressure
Schedule the EyeMobile (District 33Y Clubs Only): go to
http://www.lions-33y.org/Messages/Eyemobile_Reservation/Eyemobile_Reservation.html
EyeMobile Trifold: http://www.lions-33y.org/forms/EyeM_3-fold.doc (Microsoft Word)
Eyemobile FAQ: http://www.lions-33y.org/forms/EyeMobileFAQ.pdf
Purpose:
The specially equipped mobile unit travels to communities throughout Western Massachusetts, District 33-Y. The Lions and other volunteers provide free health screenings for vision, glaucoma, hearing, diabetes, and blood pressure.
Lions Clubs all over the world are dedicated to help citizens preserve their vision and hearing. For the service-oriented group such as the Lions, conducting health screenings is a very grassroots way that we can have a direct and positive impact on our citizens, especially the elderly and children.
History:
1998: VDG Art Thomas traveled MD33 as President of Lions Eye Research. He saw that 33A,N,K, and S owned and operated EyeMobiles and a Sightmobile.and wondered to 33Y why we didn't.
1999: DG 33Y Art Thomas actively promoted an EyeMobile the idea of an EyeMobile in 33Y.
2000: DG 33Y Tom Kowal appointed EyeMobile Committee to investigate the purchase of the equipment.
2001: DG 33Y Bill Rathbun continued to promote the Eyemobile.
2002: DG 33Y Pam Hodgkins brought the EyeMobile project to an official vote of the District Cabinet in May 2003.
2002: DG 33Y Jean Martin I promoted the EyeMobile project within the District by inviting the brand new 33N EyeMobile to the Grand Opening of the new Basketball Hall of Fame for the Clubs of 33Y to see.
2003: PDG Pam and VDG Greg Prentice persuaded their Clubs to sponsor the 33N Eyemobile at the Cummington Fair and next at the Deerfield Antique Car Show.
2004: DG 33Y Jim Gracia continued promoting the EyeMobile project. PDG Pam continued to send grant requests.
2005: DG 33Y Greg Prentice signed the matching grant request from LCIF prepared by PDG Pam.
2006: DG 33Y Jean II received the matching grant from LCIF and turned it over to President PCC Art Thomas of the
Eyemobile Corporation who ordered the 2006 Ford V-10 powered Winnebago from Diamond RV of Hatfield.
2006: PCC Art and his son flew to Florida and drove the vehicle back to Hatfield in June 2006.
Spring 2007: PDG Jim and PCT Dennis took the consensus for the exterior decoration of the EyeMobile and had it professionally applied to it.
2007: At the Business meeting of the 33Y Lions MidWinter Conference, President PDG Jim Gracia of the 33Y Lions Orthoptic Clinic presented a grant to the EyeMobile to purchase the vision and hearing equipment to enable operation of the EyeMobile.
June 2007: the screening equipment was installed on Monday the Fourth, the EyeMobile performed its first screening at the Dalton Lions Carnival on June 9th. The volunteers were from Pittsfield and Cummington Lions.
Through June 2010 the 33Y Lions EyeMobile has traveled nine thousand miles to more than 150 events to parade and to screen the vision and hearing of more than 4500 persons within the four Western Counties of Massachusetts. Our EyeMobile is wholly owned by the Lions of District 33Y. It is equipped with state-of-the-art instruments operated by
Lion volunteers to screen for blood pressure, hearing at three frequencies, distance vision, glaucoma by emitting a pulse of air against the eyeball, and a digital retina imaging and recording system which is reviewed by volunteer professionals.
These image results are mailed to the customer.
EyeMobile Officers
President: DG/PDG Dennis Fountain
Our EyeMobile has a vision acuity screening device for distance, blood pressure screening, hearing acuity screens for lowest loudness (decibel level) at three pitches: 1,000 Hz, 2,000 Hz, and 4,000 Hz (frequencies of sound) are heard, glaucoma screening (a puff of air is directed into the eye to test the pressure in the eyes), and a Non-Mydriatic Retinal Camera (that means the irises don't have to be dilated) which takes a picture of the back of the eye, which detects macular degeneration, glaucoma, druisis. The picture from the camera is sent to a specialist for review.
Massachusetts Lions
District 33Y
QUICK LINKS
View the EyeMobile Driver List
Get the Manual Reservation Form