Dining in D.C.

I’m in Washington, D.C. representing AOA and optometry at the National Changing Diabetes Program. I’m sure few if any of you have a clue about this initiative/program/organization. Neither did I until a few months ago when I received an invitation to the Partner Leadership Meeting.

AOA was a founding member of this group and at least twice tonight at the reception I had people tell me how pleasantly surprised they were that optometry was part of this public health initiative. Novo Nordisk is the lead company sponsor with the goal of helping America deal with the epidemic diabetes today and in the future.

I had a very interesting dinner  conversation with representatives from Novo Nordisk, American Academy of Family Practitioners, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and American Association of Diabetic Educators.

Topics were obviously centered around diabetic patients and how we can all help, but there were even discussions between professions about “turf” and who should be in the lead when it comes to care of patients. Everyone at the table represented true primary care and it was interesting to hear the different perspectives.

The general consensus at the table was that we need to do better in this country when it comes to chronic disease. It will take a radical change in how we care for and pay for chronic illnesses.

I can’t wait until tomorrow when we hear about all the potential collaborations among the professions. I know that many optometrists have become involved at the local and state levels of diabetes associations and I hope every optometrist realizes that they can play a vital role in their patients’ diabetes by being an educator and advocate for the best control of the blood sugar possible.

Please share your experiences with diabetic patients and share with our colleagues how you are part of their primary health care team.

Comments Please…..

Since I’m new to blogging, I thought many of you might be as well and could use a little coaching. 

To make a comment on any of my posts or president’s columns or on anything related to the AOA, optometry, Harley Davidsons, your alma mater, my alma mater (ICO) etc. –

Just click on the “no comments” (if no comments have been received yet) or you can click on the comments section.

This blog is just a forum to dialogue with the current president of the AOA and I hope to see many more comments and questions in the future.  Happy Blogging!

Congrats to the American Academy Of Optometry

I just returned from a very successful AAO meeting in Anaheim. Melissa and I were excited to watch well over 150 colleagues of all ages cross the stage as new fellows of the AAO. Congratulations to them for their hard work and dedication to life-long learning.

Congratulations to Dr. Rick Weisbarth as he completed his reign as president of the AAO and best wishes to the new AAO President Dr. Mark Eger from Coaropolis, PA.

Drs. Rick Weisbarth, Pete Kehoe and Mark Eger

Oct. 27 President’s Column: Handing over the keys

For several years, we’ve been hearing about the challenges in transitioning a practice from a senior doctor to a junior doctor around the country. Our industry partners have recognized this and suggest that possibly several hundred viable optometric practices literally close their doors each year rather than being transitioned to a new independent optometrist.
         As the organization that represents optometrists in all practice settings, it is critical from our perspective that independent practices (optometrist owner) remain viable and transition to new owners whenever possible.

Realeyes

I’m at the East-West Eye Conference in Cleveland and just sat in on the celebration of a program developed by the Ohio Optometric Association called Realeyes. This program is a fantastic example of how optometry can educate the public with the help of public dollars.

Using a license plate check off system, about $1.3M per year is divided between 4 organizations/programs, one of which is the Realeyes program. This past year 261 doctors and staff gave over 700 presentations in all counties in Ohio to 416 schools and over 53,000 K-8th graders who learned about vision, eyes and a lifetime of comprehensive eye care.

Congratulations to the OOA and the volunteer doctors and staff for this now NINE year old project. I hope

Realeyes by the Ohio Optometric Association

other state associations would contact the OOA and learn how this or a similar program can fundamentally change the perception of wellness eye and vision care and optometry’s role as the “family eye doctor”.