Seer: Doctor sees need for free eye clinic

On Thursday evenings, when most doctors’ offices are closed for the day, the Free Clinic of Central Virginia bustles with activity.

At the center of the action is Dr. Remo Lotano, a man of 75 with dark brown hair and rectangular-rimmed glasses. The retired ophthalmologist launched the Free Clinic’s eye care clinic last fall, just as the economy was entering crisis mode.

“I just came down and asked them if they wanted an eye clinic, and they said, ‘Absolutely,’” says Lotano.

Through donations, the Free Clinic scrounged up the equipment necessary for a basic operation: a chair, stand, foropter, a slit lamp and projectors. Lotano began seeing patients in September, but took a break in December for bypass surgery.

He returned in February and is booked solid until May.

“These patients have nowhere else to go ... They know they need eye care but they can’t afford it.”

Over the past few months, demand for services at the Free Clinic has risen sharply, says Free Clinic Executive Director Bob Barlow.

“We’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg for the need of free eye care,” he says.

On a recent night in February, Lotano plans to see about nine patients, starting at 5:30 p.m. and going through until 8 or 9, when the last patient would be examined. He is assisted by a team of four certified ophthalmic technicians, known jokingly as “Lotano’s ladies,” who keep things running smoothly.

One by one, the patients read from a chart of letters in a dim hallway, some squinting as the font size gets smaller. Then they are ushered into a small exam room where they meet Lotano, who wears the requisite white lab coat and carries a clipboard. In most cases, Lotano performs a routine eye exam, where he looks for abnormalities and signs of diseases like glaucoma or cataracts. Since retirement, he has stopped performing surgery, so he refers surgery patients to a local specialist.

Lotano was originally attracted to ophthalmology because he considered it a “nice, clean profession.” Plus, his father was “very nearsighted, almost blind.”
The New York native moved to Lynchburg in 1972 and started a private practice. Over the years, he became a leader in the Lynchburg’s ophthalmology community, starting Piedmont Eye Center in 1997, which quickly grew from two to more than 40 employees.

The Piedmont Eye Center filled a much-needed gap in eye care. Before, Lynchburg residents had to drive to Charlottesville or Roanoke to see glaucoma, pediatric or retinal specialist.

“We didn’t have those specialties,” Lotano says.

Since retiring, Lotano has devoted more time to his family and his favorite pastimes, reading and skiing. But he found himself missing the daily interaction with patients. Volunteering at the Free Clinic helps fill that void.

“The beauty about it is it covers all ages from birth to the grave,” Lotano says.

In today’s hard economic hard times, he also felt compelled to give back.

One of those benefiting is 60-year-old Judy Wade of Lynchburg, who lost her insurance when her husband retired. Wade’s Medicare benefits will not kick in until April.

It’s her first night at the eye clinic. Diabetes makes victims susceptible to eye problems, so she says the preventative checkup brings her “peace of mind.”