LOW Lions lend helping hands

Contributed
Published: August 7, 2008

For three days last month, the fairgrounds in Wise County in southwestern Virginia became a giant health clinic for over 2,600 people from the Appalachian region of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. The unemployed, uninsured and underinsured drove hundreds of miles in many cases to get free health care for themselves and their children.
The ninth annual Rural Area Medical (RAM) Health Fair at Wise also attracted over 1,580 volunteers, including doctors, dentists, nurses, technicians and many others there to help in any way they could.
Lake of the Woods was well represented by 13 members of the LOW Lions and Lioness clubs. Most worked in the Lions District 24C Sight & Hearing Mobile Unit, screening patients for vision and hearing problems; others registered patients or escorted them from place to place. For all, it was an extremely gratifying experience to serve the needy at a place more than 350 miles from LOW.
Of the 1,088 people screened for vision by three Lions mobile units, over 900 went home with a new pair of eyeglasses they likely had needed for a long time.
The 2,670 people took advantage of many types of free health care, adding up to 5,475 patient “encounters” over the three days. Children were 3.7 percent of the patients. Dental care was provided to 1,240 patients-3,857 extractions, 1,638 fillings and 239 cleanings. Officials estimated that the value of the health care received was over $1.725 million.
Members of the LOW Lions Club who served were Tom Walker, Dick Hornaday, Sue Simmons, Carol Moffa, Ron Moffa, Don Rogers, Orville Dee, Larry Deem, Joe Davidson and Ralph Rupard (and his wife Linda). Participating from the LOW Lioness Club were Paula Hornaday and Joann Deem.