Maxi-cam enables the visually impaired to see!

Ann Lynch couldn't help but break down and cry.A device the size of a computer mouse had just worked a miracle for the nearly blind Fremont woman. It allowed her to read for the first time in four years."I got on the phone with Bea (Jorn) and cried for a couple hours. I said, 'I'm reading, can you believe it?'" Lynch said.Lynch wasn't alone in her joy.Blanche Bloemker, a fellow member of Fremont Pathfinders Visually Impaired Peer Support Group, also has benefited from a visual aid known as a Maxi-Cam.

The magnification device has helped Bloemker read the daily newspaper and complete other book work because she can now see the numbers.As Bloemker moves the device over a series of text, it shows up magnified in black and white on a nearby television screen. A knob on top allows her to zoom in and out. The camera can magnify up to 24 times.

"I can still see with my magnifying glass at home some, but not like I can with this," Bloemker said.Besides being able to read a newspaper, book or magazine, the Maxi-Cams also have been a blessing for group members who take medications. The small, but very important, information on a medicine bottle can now be read.

"We can actually read our own directions," Lynch said. "I didn't know that they had started putting the cautions on the side of the bottle."Prior to using a Maxi-Cam, Lynch required hospitalization after she accidentally overdosed on her prescribed medications because she couldn't read the bottle labels."I thought I was taking my heart medication and I was taking extra blood pressure medicine," she said.Putting on make-up also is possible with the camera. To put on lipstick, the user would hold the camera near her face while following the magnified picture.

Lynch, president of the Fremont Pathfinders Visually Impaired Peer Support Group, often travels to functions for the organization. The small size of the Maxi-Cam has allowed her to carry it with her on the trips."I can just put it in my purse and hook it up to a TV or a computer monitor wherever I'm at," Lynch said.The local support group purchased three of the Maxi-Cams through a grant from the Fremont Area Community Foundation and the Lester Walker Fund.

The group has received money to buy six more devices if the need arises.At $300 each, Lynch and Bloemker believe the Maxi-Cams are a bargain."For $300, to be able to read a newspaper article or see a picture of your grandkids, this is great," Lynch said.Of the 46 chapters of Visually Impaired Peer Support Group in Nebraska, Fremont's group is the only one to have the cameras.Lynch estimates between 200-250 people who live in Fremont are visually impaired.

But the local support group only averages about 16 people for its monthly meetings, something Lynch would like to change.One of the many benefits of the support group, Lynch said, is locating visual aids that can help people in their daily lives.Many aids can be found throughout Lynch's home. She has a talking watch and clock and a timer with Braille she uses for cooking. Lynch also is diabetic so she utilizes a talking glucometer to test her blood sugar levels."There's a lot of visual aids out there," Lynch said.

"There's a lot of people just here in Fremont who would benefit from our group and benefit from the visual aids ... We're here for each other."The support group meets at 1:45 p.m. the second Monday of each month at Gifford Towers Community Room. A business meeting is followed by a program.Persons don't have to be visually impaired to join the group, though. Bea Jorn, the group's secretary, isn't visually impaired but attends meetings because her husband has macular degeneration.