We Can’t Say It Enough
The Magic City Lions are an active group of people. They meet on Tuesday mornings at 7:30 AM at the Parker Senior Center in Downtown Minot. The room is always filled with bright smiles and generally good natured conversation between members. About a month ago a sign-up sheet was passed around to help with a vision screening event on Minot Air Force Base at the annual Backpack Brigade. Perfect, I thought. I can help out at the vision screening and take some photos for the paper. Kill 2 birds with one stone.
The Magic City Lions have access to a small machine that does quick vision screening and gives you a recommendation whether or not to schedule a more advanced vision checkup.
We set up in a back room of the youth center. There were 3 of us. 2 running the screening and Dr. Josh Meschke of Vision Source. All of us were donating our time, but as one of the parents said to me, only in Minot would an eye doctor like Dr. Meschke give their time to screen young kids for possible vision issues.
This was my first screening event, and I quickly learned how to run the screen tool. In a dark room you ask the person being screened to look straight into the machine. There’s even a pair of eyes and a smiley face to look at to assist getting the attention of younger kids.
We did around 20 screenings, with well over ½ being advised by Dr. Meschke to probably schedule the advanced checkups. I want to note that Dr. Meschke did not recommend his own business, instead he would say there are several competent Drs. Of Optometry in Minot, and most would certainly take new patients.
After their short conversation, all of those who visited with Dr. Meschke would thank him for his time. Me, I am a journalist with a few extra hours to donate for a good cause. The other 2 Magic City Lions, Dr. Meschke and the other participant, Muriel, well they both work in the eye care world. It was truly a pleasure to offer the screenings at no cost, and moreover to give parents access to experts like Josh and Muriel.
Which brings me to the Ah-Ha moment I had at the vision screening. As parents were standing there in their uniforms, it was pretty easy to be friendly with their kids, and then look up at them and say, “Thank you for your service.” Number one in their life is being a parent, but all of them had the same connection, either serving, or having a member of their family serve in the Air Force. I followed a couple of active duty Moms out to direct them to Dr. Meschke. One Mom was explaining to the other that “getting thanked for their service will happen all the time up here.” The conversation continued with some of the other courtesies extended to service members, like military discounts and military appreciation days and even free vision screening. From my point of view, it was just plain being North Dakota Nice!
A bit of a story to tell about our vision screening. One of the folks that wandered in was Natalie Lamarand, wife of 5th Bomb Wing Commander, Col. Jesse Lamarand. After talking with us for a few minutes, she insisted that she and her husband would be back for a vision screening, later. Sure enough, Col Lamarand showed up at the end of his shift at the registration table for the Backpack Brigade, and we did indeed perform a vision screening on him. No secrets revealed here. We were glad to provide the service to Minot Air Force Base personnel and their dependents. All the way from a 1 year old baby, to the commander of the Minot Air Force Base.
So, one final thought. Hey Minot, keep up the good work. Make the folks at Minot Air Force Base feel welcomed, and of course, thank them for their service.
Best Kept Secrets
Community Rocks is a great event, and it’s this weekend! There is a lot of information on their web site comunityrocksnd.org. You won’t want to miss it.
Today’s Chuckle
One of those real life experiences. My grandson asked me “BePa, were you alive when Niel Armstrong walked on the moon. I replied “sure I was. We watched it live on TV.” To which he replied “They had TV’s way back then?” The joke isn’t over quite yet. Grandson #1 then put the icing on the cake “Charlie, TV’s were invented back when BePa was a young boy…it’s just that they hadn’t invented color back then!” Enough said…
