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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Pat Mulhall, Sherb and Sherb Jr. check-in patients for the Eyemobile.
On Thursday afternoon, the Sherborn Lions, a nonprofit offering free health screenings through the Lions Club of Massachusetts District 33K, brought the Eyemobile to Pilgrim Hall, looking to offer their services to the seniors of Sherborn.
While perhaps not overtly as cool as the Batmobile or as iconic as the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, the Eyemobile serves a far more important role. Essentially an RV filled with blood pressure cuffs, eye charts and machines that check for glaucoma by blowing air into a person’s eye and checking the pressure inside, the Eyemobile is a mobile medical platform.
Most importantly, the vehicle can be driven by anyone and does not require a special license. Because of this flexibility, the Lions are always looking for more volunteer drivers. And, while there is a training period, according to Pat Mulhall, “the machines are pretty user-friendly, so talk to somebody and sign up. The dues are pretty minimal, and we have a lot of fun.”
Flanked by the Lions teddy bear mascots Sherb and Sherb Jr., Mulhall explained that the Lions also give hearing tests, because “People think about their eyes, but don’t think about their hearing as much. Doctors don’t ask about hearing as much as they ask about eyesight.”
The aforementioned hearing tests were held inside Pilgrim Hall.
The volunteers made it clear that if they noticed any issues, they would implore the person being tested to see a doctor. They also noted the wide array of issues they could test for, including spot vision, retinal abnormalities, visual deficiencies, hearing loss, glaucoma, and elevated blood pressure.
Jack Mulhall operates the glaucoma testing machine in the Lions Eyemobile.
And in case there weren’t enough people in Sherborn looking to get their hearing and sight tested, Mulhall noted that they had a secret weapon: “We arrange the Eyemobile to be on the day Peter cooks, because lot of people come on those days.”
As for the people who showed up, whether their eyesight was 20/20 or some way off from that standard of perfection, it wasn’t exactly hard to see that the Sherborn Lions and their Eyemobile were doing a lot of good for the community.
