Eye-Care exam

“It appears an entire year has passed, and I see no changes,” said Dawn Pisello, O.D., my eye doctor at Canandaigua’s Eye-Care Center.
“That’s debatable,” I said. “That floater in my left eye is a little more intense, and it seems I hafta use a magnifying-glass a little more.”
“Your cataracts, which are very slight, and don’t effect your vision, are unchanged, there’s no macular degeneration, and your retinas are fully attached.”
“I also am the only one in my high-school class not using bifocals, and I graduated in 1962.
I haven’t felt need for ‘em yet, so I keep holdin’ out.
Bifocals are like a walker. Use ‘em, and ya end up needin’ ‘em.”
It was my annual eye checkup at Canandaigua’s Eye-Care Center.
I could do it cheaper, but......
—1) Doing so is a trip into Rochester. Eye-Care Center is nearby.
—2) A while ago I had a retinal tear lasered shut.
My eye-doctor was Heidi Piper, M.D., a graduate of nearby Houghton College (“HO-tin;” as in “oh”).
I could tell. Ms. Piper had her feet solidly on the ground, very professional and caring.
I too am a graduate of Houghton College; 1966. Ms. Piper graduated in 1987.
Houghton seems to turn out professionals, people who have their feet on the ground; not elitists.
The Executive Editor at the Mighty Mezz during my employ, Robert Matson. was a Houghton grad.
So is the current Entertainment Editor, L. David Wheeler.
Both are class-acts.
Every time I visit the Eye-Care Center I’m amazed at their clientele.
They all seem old and decrepit.
A lady in her 50s wheeled in her mother.
“She can’t leave the wheelchair,” she shouted.
They had arrived in a Wayne County wheelchair bus.
A gentleman in his late 50s commented to relatives he and his wife were considering moving into a 55+ adult-care center in PA.
“I’m 66,” I was tempted to say; “and I ain’t leavin’ my house!”
Have people start doing things for you, and ya’ll get so ya can’t do anything.
I was directed into a darkened room to await pupil dilation.
A 350-pound Big Momma in a motorized chair was called.
Slowly she followed with her chair. Whirr-bump, Whirr-bump, Whirr.
“Look out!” I thought. “Ya don’t wanna get run over.”
A grandpop roared next to me in a motorized chair at the speed of light. He had full oxygen regalia.
Another woman about 250 pounds was called.
She had a walker.
Slowly she waddled toward the examination room.
Lift walker, put walker down, advance two feet. Lift walker, put walker down, advance two feet.
About seven seconds for each advance.
The attending clerk had to wait.
My wife’s mother is 94.
“No walkers,” she says. “Start usin’ one, and soon ya can’t walk.”
So I go to Canandaigua’s Eye-Care Center.
It’s that Piper lady.
She’s like my appliance repairman.
She gets the job done right.
It’s all about service to people, which Houghton seems to engender.

• “Canandaigua” (“cannon-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.
• Houghton College in western New York is from where I graduated with a BA in 1966. I’ve never regretted it, although I graduated as a Ne’er-do-Well, without their blessing. Houghton is an evangelical liberal-arts college.
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired over four years ago. Best job I ever had.
• “Wayne County” is the county north of the one we live in, Ontario County. It’s just east of Monroe County, the county Rochester is in.