Dr. Samuel Wolfson: An Eye Doctor Brings His Office to His Patients, Along with Humor, Magic and Compassion

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Dr. Samuel Wolfson: An Eye Doctor Brings His Office to His Patients, Along with Humor, Magic and Compassion

Dr. Samuel Wolfson, a Minneapolis optometrist and founder of Minnesota Vision Outreach Inc, is used to hauling his “office” around with him to see patients. In fact, he has been doing it since 1978. Dr. Wolfson sees nursing home residents in 80 metro facilities a year, visiting two facilities a day every weekday. He and his associate, Dr. Alan Anderson who also visits correctional facilities, group homes and sometimes private residences.

In the morning, he brings his mobile ophthalmic equipment with him to one nursing home, sets up a cheerful exam environment and calls for his scheduled patients. After the appointments, he packs everything up and it’s on to another nursing home facility in the afternoon. He may see just ten or fifteen patients a day, because he recognizes another benefit to patients of their eye exam appointments: a chance to laugh, be listened to, made to feel special and of course, see better at the conclusion and have eye conditions treated.

Dr. Wolfson really does have an office in Golden Valley, one he’s rarely in for any length of time. This is the pre-scheduling center and base of operations. After Dr. Wolfson or Dr. Anderson examine patients and determine any necessary refractions, two staff opticians make appointments at the facility for fittings for new glasses, bringing an assortment of frames along. They also provide on-site education to staff about conditions that patients should be seen for and services provided by the practice.

Dr. Wolfson’s mobile equipment doesn’t just include bonafide tools of the practice, like auto refractors and tachometers. He has props and little gifts, too, and may literally have a trick or two up his sleeve. Setting up the on-site exam room starts out in the corridor and on the entry door, where Dr. Wolfson tapes up lots of humorous posters and photos (Chihuahuas in glasses, an older couple with sunglasses on the beach, funny sayings and a colorful graphic depicting spinach and carrots: “Carrots are great but spinach is better!”). Patients see that this is a welcoming, comfortable place to visit, even fun.

Most of Dr. Wolfson’s patients are on Medicaid, and while the majority in nursing homes are older adults, he sees a significant number of disabled patients as well. This particular morning we are at the University Good Samaritan Center in Minneapolis, where many residents suffer from various disabilities and degenerative conditions. Dr. Wolfson has his appointment schedule with him, but each one has to be re-confirmed at the appointment time. The patient’s file is delivered to the exam room, a valuable reference for possible complications and pre-existing conditions, and the status from the last visit. Patients receive yearly checks for glaucoma and vision, while those with cataracts, active glaucoma, complications from diabetes, levels of blindness or other ocular conditions receive appropriately timed visits and referral for needed surgery.

Dr. Wolfson always explains to patients his procedures and what they are for, and besides using the auto refractor for visual acuity, uses a wall chart and various refracted lenses, in his comprehensive eye exam. The benefit of the auto refractor is that it can tell the eye doctor what a patient’s corrective prescription will be without saying a word, and requiring only minimal cooperation. Patients may have impaired cognition, and may or may not be able to read initially during the appointment, but perhaps can read a little later. Even patients who say they can see fine may actually be wearing somebody else’s glasses. But there is always a desire to see clearly, and a response to kindness and gentle humor.

When he administers eye drops prior to a glaucoma test, Dr. Wolfson lets the patient know what he’s about to do, but he is so deftly skillful in manner and application that the patient hardly reacts. He says, though, that this doesn’t keep the occasional determined patient from squinting his or her eyes shut to avoid the drops. In glaucoma cases, it is important to check the thickness of the cornea with an perimeter instrument, because this has implications for change in medications or even taking the patient off the meds. When a change is made, the patient is examined again.

Dr. Wolfson welcomes a patient, Patricia, age about 50. She’s a smiling woman in a wheelchair with advanced Huntington’s disease. Although it is difficult for her to speak coherently, she loves conversation and a good laugh. We learn that as a military brat, Patricia has lived all over Europe, and in fact, taught singing in a conservatory in Germany. Dr. Wolfson delights her with a Ole and Lena joke. He says he gets a lot of pertinent information conversationally, that is not sometimes forthcoming by direct questioning. She has two pairs of glasses, we find out. She is a star patient, she’s told, and she says, “yes” to the offer of a bright beaded necklace. Dr. Wolfson keeps a supply of these for women, as well as pens for all and candy, when sweets are allowed.

Some patients -and staff - wouldn’t let Dr. Wolfson go without a card trick or two, which he obviously relishes. “See this deck of cards?” he shows us a patently blank deck, front and back. Flick – and there is a normal deck!

Is there a greater need for optometric services to nursing and rehabilitation facility residents? Absolutely, says Dr. Wolfson. “If we were fully utilized, I’d have to add staff,” he said. “Eye health and corrected vision can make a huge difference in the quality of life for these people.”

Dr. Wolfson, a high-energy person, says he is clearly tired by 4:00 p.m., but he says that treating older, infirm patients and those with disabling conditions is rewarding rather than in any way depressing. “We’re going to get old,” he said. “And a stroke or a disabling disease could happen to anyone, any time.”

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