A new and improved Eye Van is set to embark on it's journey through towns across northern Ontario.

The van is a 15-metre long vehicle operated by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, replacing an older van which had been making the six-month trip into small communities from Englehart to Pickle Lake.

It's staffed by two nurses and a driver, and in total the team spends approximately six months on the road, riding a van outfitted with all the equipment you would expect in an eye doctor's office, including a new computer network hooked up to local health teams.

Lisa Obonswin, manager of the Eye Van program, told CBC News that the older version of the Eye Van was a bit smaller, and had a "goose neck" in the entrance which impeded some of the van's patients, especially those with mobility issues.

"We made sure that we built this van similar to how you would build a medical office," Obonswin said. "So the hallways, the room, the mobility, the access for wheelchair patients, the access to all our medical equipment is all available to patients."

"In addition we are able to network test the equipment for the doctors so that they can call up, not only the patient information, but also all of the results for the tests to make a proper assessment for each patient," she said.

Obonswin said the new van is fully equipped for diagnostics, minor surgical procedures and laser surgeries. She said it has become a necessity as highly specialized equipment becomes harder to find in the north.

"In northern Ontario we have the perfect highway system for the Eye Van to travel," she said. "What we don't have in northern Ontario is access to ophthalmology in some of our remote communities."

Lisa Obonswin manages the CNIB's Eye Van program. (Casey Stranges/CBC)

Registered Nurse Alyssa Elik, who counts this as her fourth tour with the Eye Van, said those types of diagnostic tools will come in handy. She said last year the team was able to head off serious damage to a patient's sight in Iroquois Falls just by connecting with a local eye doctor.

"It was late in the evening when we got a call from this optometrist asking us if we could see a patient," Elick said. "Judging by the sound of his voice we could tell that this patient really did need to be seen."

"So we waited around until this patient got to the clinic and we did the full assessment," she said. "We did all the tests on the patient and that way the doctor was able to see the severity of the case and was able to provide treatment and medications for this patient."

Staff of the CNIB Eye Van are Layla Sykes, Jim Ainsworth and Alyssa Elik. They will be serving smaller communities in northern Ontario until October. (Casey Stranges/CBC)

Had the Eye Van not been in the community, "that patient would have probably completely lost their vision," Elick said.

Eye Van driver Jim Ainsworth— who also assists in providing the visual field analyses— said the arrival of the team has been a "boon for small communities."

"A lot of our patients are seniors and they have difficulty traveling," Ainsworth said. "One doctor pointed out that we make a big difference in probably four to five patients a day."

"We see upwards of 30 to 40 patients a day but we make a huge difference in the lives of an average of four to five people a day, where we can arrest or fix problems with their eyes."

The Eye Van begins its trip in Englehart and finishes in October on Manitoulin Island.

For more information about the Eye Van, visit the CNIB's web site.