Local eye care center creates telescopic viewer for colorblind

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Visitors can take in a variety of views at Woodward Park.

"Even if you have normal color vision, you have great detail, you can see people walking, birds flying through," says Campbell Waldrop.

Now, a new telescopic viewer installed by EYE-Q vision care will give colorblind people that same experience.

Joe Williams works for EYE-Q and is colorblind. His colleagues say the first time he looked through the viewer was eye-opening.

"He was kind of scanning around and something caught his eye, and he goes, 'Oh, that's what everyone else sees.'"

The viewer is the only one of its kind in California and is in honor of the late Dr. Brian Cavallaro, who died in 2019.

"He spent his lifetime protecting vision and restoring vision, so we thought this was a nice tribute," Waldrop said.

His wife and daughters were at Saturday morning's dedication ceremony to remember the man they lost too soon to cancer.

"By the end, he had lost 90 percent of his vision and he had also lost color," says Maria Cavallaro. "He could only see black and white at the very end."

Now, they hope the viewer will honor his legacy and give the community the chance to see in color for years to come.

"I was in tears because we take color for granted every day, honestly," Maria said.