Midwest Eye Center: An eye to good vision

By Sheila Helmberger

Our eyes are one of the most valuable assets we have, making it possible for us to fully experience and enjoy the world around us. When we can’t see correctly, or if our eyes are sore or blurry, it can be painful, uncomfortable and can change the way we see.

The expert staff at Midwest Family Eye Center have been helping people see clearly for over 35 years. Dr. Jackie McCall and Dr. Torvin Rajala offer complete eye care and can help you take the best possible care of your eyes. Many eye conditions; such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and dry eye, can be effectively treated or minimized with timely detection and the appropriate treatment plan. We are excited to now offer an in-office dry eye treatment. This procedure targets the glands of the upper and lower eyelids when they are not functioning properly to keep your eyes moist and comfortable. Also available to our patients are clinically proven lenses aimed at reducing light sensitivity and migraines. Specialty contact lenses, such as multifocal contacts and contact lenses that correct astigmatism, are also offered.

Regular preventive eye exams are essential. If it is time for your eye exam, our friendly staff can assist you in scheduling an appointment and then help you find the ideal visual enhancing options for your needs, ensuring you leave with confidence in your eye care for the long term. Your vision is as important to the staff at Midwest Family Eye Care as it is to you. Call 218-828-9545 to set up your appointment today.

“Vanity, I did,” Vanvickle said. “It was something I didn’t grow up with.”

“And neither did I,” Thompson said.

“And then I had it done,” Vanvickle continued. “Actually, Kelly did a little bit of filler in the cheeks. And I remember looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘Oh, that looks good, I don’t look as tired,’ And it dawned on me that that’s not vanity — that’s self confidence. I looked in the mirror and had a positive thought instead of something negative. We can do that now, for other people.”

The Key Wellness location also includes a boutique out front that sells clothes, jewelry and skincare.

Vanvickle said this was added to bring in some retail to cater to tourists in the area, who wouldn’t normally come into the building if there wasn’t something to buy.

Vanvickle and Thompson also work with Therapeutic Touch in Nisswa to provide massage services at Key Wellness.

Key Wellness employs about seven people, including Morgan Rickard, a registered nurse and injector who said there was nothing about her job she didn’t like. Rickard said she appreciates the ability to offer clients comprehensive care, as well as lear n about her own body.

“Talking with both of the Kellys, they teach me so much each day,” Rickard said. “I feel like I come into work, and I’m constantly just learning from them, which is awesome.”

CAROLINE JULSTROM, intern, may be reached at 218-855-5851 or cjulstrom@brainerddispatch.com.

Shown here is one of the original windows in the Design Consign store Thursday, May 13, 2021, at the historic First National Bank Building in Brainerd. The window is filled with an enlarged photo from the Crow Wing County Historical Society showing the former Ransford Hotel which would have been visible from that window.

Steve Foy said online auctions could be the right move for estates where relatives have taken a majority of the items in the estate instead of having them sold. The Foys have encountered situations where the family might be selling something large, like a car or snowmobile, that would make a sale worthwhile but not a large enough number of items to justify having the sale at the house.

When S. Thomas and Associates are contracted to conduct an estate sale, they begin with a free consultation to evaluate the value of the items and the needs of the customer, sign a contract, then clean, organize, display, price and market the items before conducting the sale.

S. Thomas and Associates has an emailing list customers can sign up for to be notified about upcoming estate sales. Steve Foy said there were around 8,000 people on that emailing list, which would now also provide them information about upcoming online auctions.

Matthew Foy, who started the online auction company, said they created their own platform for the auctions and the long-term goal was to establish it as a platform other estate sale services in different areas could use to conduct online auctions.

“So, basically, the online auctions, they, they’re very similar to estate sales,” Matthew Foy said. “The main difference is that they’re sold online, and we do offer shipping. … I would say 30% of the items are shipped.” Matthew’s wife, Ashley Foy, also joined him in the family business nine months ago. The only person involved in the Foy’s business on a consistent basis who isn’t related to them is the full-time interior designer who arranges the items and furniture in Design Consign. Sometimes, working in secondhand goods turns up strange things like cash or expensive guns, Steve Foy said, but sometimes he and his family find things much stranger than that.

“A guy came back from World War II and he had a bunch of Nazi stuff,” Steve Foy said. “We don’t sell Nazi stuff. I don’t want Nazi stuff anywhere near me or my store. But we’ve come across it sometimes.”

“He fought in the war and he was one of those troops that liberated Germany,” Steve Foy said. “So when he went in, if you look at the old videos, there were big Nazi flags hanging down.”

“Yeah, it was like two stories tall,” Matthew Foy said. Although some of their finds might be shocking, Steve and

Matthew agreed that the surprisingness of each day’s work was something they enjoyed about the business. Meeting wildly different people and doing wildly different things every day, they said, was pretty cool.

“This one lady moves to a new house every year and a half,” Steve Foy said. “And gets rid of everything with us, and then moves to a new house, gets all new stuff for a year and a half, gets the whole house redone and then she calls us to go pick it up and she sells the house.”

The Foys said interesting clients, like the wife of the man who they said introduced LG electronics to the American market, provide them with a wealth of stories to tell. The best thing about the job, though, was the feeling of getting new items to clean up and sell.

CAROLINE JULSTROM, intern, may be reached at 218-855-5851 or cjulstrom@brainerddispatch.com.

By Sheila Helmberger

It is finally time for that new build. The first thing you will need to do is have the land and footprint for your new home, garage or storage space cleared. Wilderness Land Clearing and Mulching can do the job quickly and easily, all while keeping the surrounding area in mind so they do not disturb any of the root systems of the trees that will remain or any of the natural habitat that you’d like to keep. If it is not a new build you are working on, it might be time to clear up the overgrowth that is encroaching onto your property and choking out the space you enjoy as a yard. Joe Nelson and his staff can help with that too.

An ATV trail can give you easy access to even more of the spaces on your property and provide a little extra fun for your family close to home. Let Wilderness Land Clearing and Mulching tackle the job and help you plot out a trail through your property that will give you a scenic and fun way to utilize your land even more, and if you have your eye on the upcoming hunting season, a wildlife food plot can be created using the right crops and other materials to attract the animals you would like to see in your sight. Whether it is turkey, fox or deer Wilderness Land Clearing and Mulching can advise you and what and where to plant to ensure a successful season.

Buckthorn has long been a nuisance for homeowners in the area that threatens forests and wetlands and invites other unwanted guests to your property. Wilderness Land Clearing and Mulching specializes in removing the Buckthorn leaving only the natural healthy greenery you desire.

Call Joe today to see what he can do to help you achieve the land and greenspace you envision surrounding your own home at 800-630-2960.