The honor comes from the Illinois Optometric Association.
(Press Release) Dr. Dennis M. Brtva of Bloomington, IL, received the “Optometrist of the Year” award during the 118th annual convention of the Illinois Optometric Association.
As the highest honor that can be bestowed by the association on a fellow optometrist, the Optometrist of the Year award honors commitment to public service at the community level, service to the visual welfare of the public, service to optometry and legislative activity.
Brtva began his optometric career in 1984 and is an independent doctor practicing and directing two LensCrafters spaces, in Bloomington and Peoria. He is a past president of the IOA and the Bloomington Regional Optometric Society. During his tenure with the IOA, he was instrumental in helping to get legislation passed which requires all children entering school for the first time to have a complete eye exam by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist.
Nationally, Brtva has served on the American Optometric Association’s Vision USA committee, the AOA’s meetings executive committee and most recently the AOA’s membership committee.
As an active member of his local community, Brtva serves on numerous committees with his church, the local Boy Scouts, the American Red Cross and the Illinois Symphony. He is also a member of the Bloomington Normal Sunrise Rotary, where he served as president in 1997 and received the Paul Harris Fellow award in 1998.