We Asked and Your Answered: How Can We Be More United as a Profession?

question

In your opinion and in as few words as possible, how can we be more united as a profession?

• Collaborate, communicate, and share knowledge. SUPPORT each other. — Heather Harrington, Optical Nomad, Denver, CO
• Consistency. — Nick Stubblefield, Eye Care Avenue, Frisco, TX
• Start a group that will share price schedules to RAISE THE BAR, especially on specialty services! Dentists can charge a lot why can’t we? — Patti Richard, OD, Family Eye Care, North Andover, MA
• Stop hating on non-ABO opticians. Encourage! — Courtney Owen, 20/20 Optical, Fergus Falls, MN
• Build each other up when speaking to each other and also when speaking to others. — Joanne Larson, OD, Palmer Family Eye Care, Easton, PA
• Keep sharing. — Steve Whitaker, Whitaker Eye Works, Philadelphia, PA
• Uniting on legislation negatively affecting our profession and pushing for stricter standards for online glasses sales. — Kelsey Bredice, A Proper View, Winston-Salem, NC
• We can get more regularly involved in our state associations, not only when someone is in jeopardy of losing their license status. — Ann-Marie Weaver, Optimal Eye Care, Lewis Center, OH
• Realizing that we are not in competition with each other. — Jeff Rabbitt, Rabbitt Family Vision Center, North Sioux City, SD
• United purpose to keep our profession alive and thriving. — Laura Miller, OD, Northwest Hills Eye Care, Austin, TX
• Certification for opticians; meetings twice a year; go to meetings where optometrists are receiving their continuing education. — BJ Chambers, Carrera Optical, McQueeney, TX
• My prior profession was health administration and I must give kudos to the optical industry for their collaboration, support of each other and passion for the industry. — Verbelee Nielsen-Swanson, Oxford Eyes, Orlando, FL
• Education! — Maggie Campbell, Eyes on Trade, Winston-Salem, NC
• To realize this is the new way of doing business. — Ken Weiner, OD, Livingston, NJ
• Be sure all opticians are fully trained and continue to take educational updates. — Jennifer Leuzzi, Mill Creek Optical, Dansville, NY
• Corporations stop undercutting private practices. — Maureen Garbis, Compass Eyecare, Oak Park, IL
• To have the same goals definitely helps with unity. — Sonja Franklin, OD, Modern Eyes, Austin, TX
• Hold meetings locally. — Chris Gregg, Inver Grove Heights Family Eye Clinic, Inver Grove Heights, MN
• Standing united against mass produced products. — Harris Decker, Eye Designs Of Westchester, Scarsdale, NY
• Appreciation and respect for each sector of eyecare — from front desk to physician. All parts are necessary for the machine to work. — Amie Robinson, Spring Hill Eyecare, Spring Hill, TN
• License…License…License. — Chris Clark, Advanced Eye Care Optical Shoppe, Panama City, FL
• Not be so competitive with each other. Instead share ideas freely and lift each other up. We have enough people trying to tear us down. — Cynthia Sayers, OD, EyeShop Optical Center, Lewis Center, OH
• All optometrists join the AOA. — Scott Keating, OD, Vision Trends by Dr. Scott Keating, Dover, OH
• National unified licensure. — Michael Hawkins, Vision Essentials by Kaiser Permanente, Portland, OR
• Focus on quality, not price. — Carolann Speranzo, OD, Second Sight, Quincy MA
• Impossible. Lack of education requirements and/or certification means that everyone does things their own way… and we all feel our way is the “only/right” way. — Todd Lapointe, VIP Eyes, Portland, ME
• National membership group that does not charge membership dues. Use it as a sounding board and a communication channel. For any funds needed sell advertisements in a newsletter. — Mason Childers, OD, Wiregrass Eyecare of Ozark, Ozark, AL
• Be on the same page such as practice acts, educational requirements, board certification, 100% membership in the AOA, state and local societies and 100% support of state PACs and AOA-PAC. — Robert M. Easton Jr. OD, FAAO, Oakland Park, FL
• I bite my tongue as I say this since Texas does not require certification to become an optician, but because of this the profession is not held in as high a standard as other healthcare professions. To many it’s just a job rather than a sought-after career. I believe states requiring licensure bring people together with a sense of pride in the profession. Required CE will bring us together for seminars and trade shows, etc. When the profession is elevated everyone gains. — Pam Housley, Texas State Optical of Nederland, Port Arthur, TX
• We need a true big tent concept. — Richard Frankel, OD, Atlantic Cape Eyecare, Wildwood, NJ
• Having respect for our different types of businesses. The marketplace needs us all. We are striving to be a higher end boutique at one location but we also have another location for our patients that need eyewear on a budget. One location is not “better” than the other. We do not frown upon opticians that work at lower end retail chains either. It pains me to read posts or hear businesses bash each other. — Lorie Fox, Bakersfield Eye Care, Bakersfield, CA
• STOP the online sales. — Kristina Jordan, The Eye Site, Mishawaka, IN
• National licensing would be a start. There is such a discrepancy from office to office because we have no general baseline from state to state. — Travis LeFevre, Krystal Vision & LFVR Eyewear, Logan, UT
• Stop talking about problems and start working on solutions. — Ben Thayil, OD, Lifetime Vision and Eye Care, Miami, FL
• Have consistency in our legislative goals that would benefit the broadest area of optometry. — Zachary Dirks, OD, St. Peter and Belle Plaine Eyecare Centers, Saint Peter, MN
• More education available, more states having mandatory licensing. — Tina Gladen, Eye Care Associates, Minneapolis MN