On the Road with the"Eye Chicks"

The "Eye Chicks" are registered nurses Kate Neil, 29, and Cristine Moorhouse, 30. Together, they drive the 40-foot rig they affectionately call "The Tin Can" along a 6,500 kilometer (4,040 mile) route across northern Ontario, Canada, delivering ophthalmology services to 5,010 people in 31 isolated communities. The Eye Van, which belongs to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), is a state-of-the-art ophthalmology clinic-on-wheels, capable of handling everything from eye examinations to minor laser surgery. The van provides eye care for underserved communities and is part of the CNIB's Prevention of Blindness Program. It has been rolling for 29 years. Twenty ophthalmologists take turns catching up with the van in various centers, but Neil and Moorhouse work the entire eight-month stint, from the beginning of March to the end of November, linking towns, doctors, and patients.

It isn't an easy life, but it's definitely an interesting one. Northern Ontario averages one resident per square mile. You can drive for hours without seeing another person or a house. Cell phones fail more often than not. The biggest driving hazards are large animals, such as half-ton adult moose, wandering onto the road. It takes some getting used to.

In addition to their combined duties as drivers, nurses, and ophthalmic assistants, these attractive, gregarious women act as the de facto public relations department for the van, which is heavily dependent on sponsorship from local service clubs and on the work of 300 volunteers along the route. Consequently, the women are expected to attend meetings with the service clubs and provide education sessions for local doctors and nurses. The energetic pair does not see these events as chores, but as opportunities to meet the locals and learn about the community. They are happy to take whatever a town has to offer, from friendship to food to leisure activities. "I don't ever want to feel like an outsider," says Neil.

Northern Ontario has large French and Native populations, so both women are now multilingual, speaking English, French and even a bit of Cree, Ojibway and OjiCree. And of course sign language! "Tapping your finger is now the accepted universal for 'Did you test your blood sugar?'" explains Neil.

A Dynamic Duo

In some ways, Moorhouse and Neil are unlikely partners, and the two did not know each other before they joined the Eye Van. Moorhouse is a born and bred "northerner," though not a small-towner, coming from the city of Thunder Bay (population 109,016). Neil is a big-city girl from heavily populated southern Ontario. For her, the Eye Van experience has been a bit of culture shock.

According to Neil, Moorhouse is a laid-back intellectual, and Neil, a workaholic. Still, the two have many things in common: their sense of humor, talkativeness, vivaciousness, and love of physical activity. Having traveled together for two years, they can occasionally be caught finishing one another's sentences. Though they admit the van can get really small at times, they continue to be friends, even spending some of their vacation time together last year – touring Alaska. "Northern Ontario wasn't north enough for us," they joke.

Neil and Moorhouse occasionally lament the distance from friends and family, and both consider always being on the move the hardest part of their job. They miss a lot of what is happening with their own families, but they have gained an extended family – Lions Clubs who make them roast beef dinners, patients who arrive with freshly made Tim Horton's coffee, and a family in Iroquois Falls (population 6,500) that takes them out for dinner and does their laundry. The pair has also achieved celebrity status – everyone knows when the Eye Van will be in town; and when it is, Neil and Moorhouse are the "treat of the week."

Helping Patients, Making Friends

"Professionally, the eye van experience has been the most rewarding thing I have ever done," says Moorhouse. Many of the ophthalmologists who service the van have sub-specialties in areas such as pediatric ophthalmology, retinal surgery, or occuloplastics (several of them are also department heads at Ontario teaching hospitals). Neil and Moorhouse spend all day with the doctors, then seize the opportunity to ask about different cases while they enjoy meals, such as lobster dinner in White River (population 993).

Their work provides a perfect blend of challenge and success. Moorhouse recalls one patient from the predominantly French-Canadian town of Hearst (population 5,825), who suffered from ptosis (a drooping eyelid). The woman was not well enough to undergo a general anesthetic, her husband was unable to travel, and she refused to go anywhere without him. The ophthalmologist that week also happened to be a plastic surgeon. The local hospital granted him temporary privileges, and he was able to perform the necessary operation under a local anesthetic. In another case, the nurses saw a patient who had suffered an artery occlusion (minor stroke) and was in danger of losing his eye." Our doctors have the contacts to get patients like this seen in southern Ontario immediately," says Neil. The man was transferred to a Toronto hospital the next day, and the Eye Van staff provided the five-week follow-up. "He became a buddy, showing up in the different towns as we went along."

It was the thought of not seeing these new friends that prompted both Neil and Moorhouse to sign on for a third year with the Eye Van. (According to Monique Pilkington, director of the Eye Van, the average tenure for a nurse is one to two years.) After that, Neil and Moorhouse say they may retire and write a best-selling travel book on northern Ontario. Says Neil, "We know all there is to know about traveling in the north: the best restaurants, the fluffiest hotel towels, the best showers – and oh, yeah, the location of all thirteen Tim Horton's donut shops along our route." Apparently the best blueberry pie in the world is found in Ignace (population 1,800).

Neil and Moorhouse agree on the four things they like the most about their Eye Van job: first, the relationships that they build with the doctors; next, saving the vision of people for whom being blind in a small town would have a major impact; third, getting to know the intricate lives of people who choose to live in small, close-knit, isolated communities; and last, but not least, driving the truck!

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