Oswego optometrist, veteran provides free eye care to those who need it

As an optometrist, Ronald Weingart wants to improve the quality of life for the patients he sees.

“We help them do more activities and reduce their pain,” said Weingart, who owns Scott Eye Care in Oswego with his wife, Chula Lerdvoratavee. “They can sleep at night. They can walk the dog. All of it comes back to improving their quality of life.”

His wife also is an optometrist at Scott Eye Care along with her sister, Vasana Lerdvoratavee. The couple first opened Scott Eye Care in 1991 in Montgomery and built its current facility at 2075 Wiesbrook Drive in Oswego in 2007.

Weingart has led a life of service. The 76-year-old served in the U.S. Air Force for 22 years, attaining the rank of major.

“I was with three different units,” Weingart said. “I was not only the optometrist, but I was also the mobility officer, which meant that I had to make sure that everybody was trained to go to war.”

The Yorkville resident is a member of the Yorkville American Legion.

His practice also helps patients with head injuries and he is considering starting a foundation to help people, such as veterans, who might not be able to afford such services.

Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman recently took note of Weingart’s contributions in awarding Scott Eye Care the Business of the Month award during the Sept. 17 Oswego Village Board meeting.

Kauffman noted the couple has traveled to other countries with the nonprofit group Volunteer Optometric Service for Humanity. The group’s mission is to provide vision care worldwide for people who can neither afford nor obtain such care.

Weingart is a past president of the Illinois chapter of VOSH.

“They have traveled extensively to foreign countries, continuing their charity work abroad, by providing free eye care and eye wear to patients in the most need across the world,” Kauffman said. “They have continued this type of work at home as well at local homeless shelters and partnered with nearby school districts for students who need optometry services the most.”

That includes providing free eye exams and glasses to those being served by Hesed House homeless shelter in downtown Aurora. Weingart said he felt good being able to help in that manner.

“These are people who otherwise would not have any eye care,” he said.

At his practice, Weingart provides a wide range of services, including helping those with low vision, an eye condition that cannot be corrected with conventional eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Low vision can be caused by injury, disease or genetics.

“You can maximize how they use the vision they have, to help them with activities of daily living,” Weingart said. “I take two hours with low vision exams, sometimes even longer, sometimes less. But I do take that long period of time to make sure that what they’re getting is going to work for them.”