By Catherine Palmigiano, Scribe

There have been several times when working as a scribe, I have seen some very interesting cases. One in particular stands out in my mind. We had a young patient come in for her eye exam; she was about 7 years old. Her mother said she was a good student for the most part, but had some trouble with reading and was in Title 1 reading assistance. She was a very sweet and curious girl who had abundant questions about all the equipment and all the staff. The young girl did not seem to have issues with distance because her mom said she could see signs farther away than mom could, but she was not reading well and was behind in school. After the doctor’s exam, she was prescribed reading glasses. The doctor prescribed a pediatric bifocal so the child would wear them all the time and not have to remember to take them on and off for reading. The girl was excited! She really wanted glasses just like her friends in school, which is actually quite common among the kids in the area.

After the exam, we brought the girl out to work with one of our opticians. She insisted, of course, on getting pink glasses, which our optician was more than happy to help her with. She was told it would take about 7-10 days for her glasses to be ready, and she became quite upset because she wanted them right away, also quite typical for kids her age. She did the cutest thing when she put on glasses with demo lenses. She exclaimed, “I can see better with glasses!” The optician explained they weren’t quite ready for her to use and we had to put the special magic in them that would be made just for her. She was still upset but understanding.

After about a week, she came in to get her glasses. They were adjusted for her and she smiled, beaming with happiness. About a month later, her mom stopped in the office, and here’s the best part: Her mom told us that since having the new glasses, the girl’s reading scores went up dramatically, and she was no longer in Title 1 reading help. She was insisting on going to the library weekly so she could read all the time. Before, mom said, it was pulling teeth to get her to read. This is probably one of my favorite stories because you realize how extremely important our field is, and how every job, including scribing, can be very rewarding.