THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601300151
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Bill Nowell scoots around Windsor Supply Co. like he's on roller skates. He's a happy-go-lucky, chewing-gum-popping kind of guy who's seemingly known by everybody for miles around.
They know it's usually Nowell who, in no time, can locate the smallest bolt or the best dog food or fertilizer bargain in the store.
A few months ago, Nowell didn't have a whole lot to be happy about. An optometrist told the Vietnam vet that he had cataracts growing aggressively on both eyes. With no insurance to cover such an operation, he was at wits end.
At the Veterans Hospital in Hampton, he learned that his status as a vet might help. But it would be such a time-consuming process that Nowell feared he'd go blind before he could get corrective surgery.
So he talked to friend R.A. Willis, a member of the Windsor Lions Club, and he quickly had an operation. Thanks to the local Lions Club and a kindly surgeon in Virginia Beach, he could see again.
The problem, Nowell said recently, seemed to come on overnight.
``My vision started getting blurry,'' he said. ``It was in just the right eye at first. I couldn't see to read, not even with my glasses. When we had stock delivered, I had to get somebody else to read the shipping papers for me.''
Nowell, who had been wearing glasses for years and is soon to turn 50, at first blamed aging. He finally made an appointment for an eye examination.
``I thought new glasses would fix it,'' he said.
When Nowell found out he needed much more, he was uncertain where to go. After the VA hospital gave him little hope of help any time soon, he mentioned his failing eyesight to Willis. Willis took the problem to Dan Atwood, a former Lions Club district officer. Atwood knew right away what to do.
Back in 1991, Atwood recalled, Dr. Ronald Frankel was visiting Lions Clubs throughout Hampton Roads. The doctor wanted to set up a fund to help pay for eye surgery for people who couldn't afford it. Atwood said the doctor was willing to donate his own money to get the fund started.
The doctor was able to negotiate with Bayside Hospital in Virginia Beach to charge a flat fee of $500 for patients who came in through the Lions Club. Frankel donated his services and convinced colleagues to donate theirs.
On Nov. 20, Frankel removed the cataract from Nowell's right eye and inserted an AMO intraocular lens, enabling him to see without glasses.
Nowell went back to Frankel on Dec. 29, for surgery on his left eye. He now has 20/20 eyesight in his right eye; the left eye is fast catching up. When he first met the doctor, he was legally blind.
``You always take something for granted until it goes,'' Nowell said. ``Now, I may need reading glasses in a few months, but nothing else. I can see.''
Atwood calls Frankel a ``very caring individual.'' The doctor said he does what he does because ``it makes me feel good.''
For each of Nowell's eyes, the Lions Club paid a $500 flat fee from the fund that Frankel started. Atwood said the Lions Eye Bank, a national organization, recently contributed another $10,000 to the Lions Charity Foundation's Dr. Frankel Fund.
Nowell is probably about the fifth resident of the Windsor area to have benfited.
And he's grateful. He feels blessed to live in a community with an organization that cares so much and was willing to help. He believes that Frankel is probably one of the greatest men alive.
Throughout the ordeal, he said, he was treated with respect by Frankel and his entire staff. To hear him tell it, it bordered on love.
And if you need a good eye doctor, Nowell can certainly recommend one.
``If I had three eyes, I'd go back to the same man,'' he said. ``The doctor, the staff - I wouldn't trade nothing for none of them.''
As for the Windsor Lions Club - there, too, are a few great men.
``I have been to every one of them and thanked them personally,'' Nowell said.
And the best part about it is, he can see. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Bill Nowell, left, helps customer Bill Musick at Windsor Supply Co.
by CNB