A Blog by Maryland Optometric Association President Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA

March 2010- President's Message

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:43:00 +0000

March is certainly shaping up to be a very active month for Maryland optometry. Last week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4691, a bill that includes extensions to several provisions that expired at the end of last month, including the 60-day reprieve from the 21.2% reduction in Medicare physician payments that was originally scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2010. Despite several attempts by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and an agreement by all other Senators, Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) objected to pass the same bill by unanimous consent., explaining that he wants the extensions paid for. The Senate has now adjourned and will reconvene on Capitol Hill this week. The 21.2% cut will therefore go into effect on Monday, March 1, 2010.

In addition, effective March 1, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has informed the medical specialty organizations that they are notifying their contractors to hold Medicare physician claims for 10 business days in order to give the Senate time to act.

As reported in the AOA advocacy report, heading-off this impending cut as well as advocating for long-term Medicare payment reform continue to be urgent priorities of the AOA. We will emphasize these points as we travel to Capitol Hill this week along with other optometrists and students from across the country for the AOA Congressional Advocacy Conference. We have meetings set up with our Maryland Senators and Congressmen to urge Congress to stop the massive 21% cut and approve lasting and equitable reform.

Please join us in this very important lobbying effort. Contact your Maryland Senator and Representative today… Or better yet, join us this Thursday in Washington to meet with them in person.

A New Year is Under Way

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:19:00 +0000

The new year is well under way, which means that the legislative session is in full swing. This year, we at the MOA are keeping our eyes closely focused on Annapolis as well as Washington.

As you all know, negotiations on a final version of health care reform legislation have been ongoing since the Senate passed their version prior to the holiday recess. In addition, the President and Administration officials have been meeting with the House and Senate Democratic leaders and Chairmen of the relevant committees to resolve the remaining differences between the House and Senate bills.

One of our top priority issues to watch is the SGR (sustainable growth rate) formula that must be resolved as the Health Care Reform legislation is finalized. The House of Representatives has passed a repeal of the SGR (H.R. 3962); however, the Senate failed to overcome the 60-vote threshold that was necessary on a procedural vote to repeal the SGR late last year. While the 21.2% reduction to Medicare physician reimbursement, which was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2010, was delayed for 60 days, the issue must be addressed by February 28, 2010, to prevent the cut from taking place. There have been assurances by the Administration and the House and Senate Democratic leadership that a long-term fix to the SGR will be addressed.
On the local level, the MOA State Legislative Committee, under the leadership of Legislative Chair Dr. Drew Doyle, is carefully watching all of the optometry and health care related issues introduced in Annapolis.

Given the major health care reforms that are looming on both the state and federal level, it couldn’t be more imperative or everyone to get involved in the legislative process. I encourage everyone to give a little of your time this year contacting your local and federal legislators by phone or email. It’s important, also, to contribute to both the MOA and AOA PAC to ensure that our voice is heard.
Please mark your calendars to join me along with Dr. Tracie King, our 1st Vice President and AOA Keyperson Chair, to visit our federal legislators on Capitol Hill on March 4th during the AOA Advocacy Conference. It is a great opportunity to meet with our Senators and Representatives and talk with them about the important issues that affect our practice and our patients on a daily basis.

Hope to see you on the hill!

MOA Welcomes New President

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:17:00 +0000

The MOA would like to welcome Dr. Rob Stutman, the 2010-2012 President of the MOA, who will be taking over as the new blogger for Viewpoint. Dr. Stutman was installed as President of the MOA in October 2009. He takes the blog reigns from outgoing president, Dr. Tom Wong, who the MOA would like to thank for his informative and enlightening blog posts during his tenure as MOA president. Welcome Dr. Stutman!

The Future is Now

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:21:00 +0000

The Future is Now Leading Care for MD Communities

I still cherish one of my first paperback books: The Future is Now. It was the story of the former infamous coach of the Washington Redskins coming to town and making the team a true contender for the first time in 3o years. Indeed that year, the Redskins would make their first Super Bowl appearance, forever capturing the hearts of their fans. You can still see the highlights on NFL Sundays with Coach Allen before a game telling his players, "Remember forty people working together as a team just can't lose!" As I think about other famous sports speeches, I often think about legendary former NFL coach Vince Lombardi telling his players they must be willing to sacrifice all of their personal wants, needs, and desires for the good of the team. The Future is Now makes reference to the balance between planning for the future and the present. I think most parents struggle with finding the right balance for their children. They want their kids to prepare for the future. However, there is the very powerful caveat which states that those who spend all of their time preparing for the future never have a present.

Optometry has been through some difficult times this year both nationally and in the state of Maryland. We have had rigorous debates on the subject of Board Certification. I knew that no matter how the vote turned out, there would be some upset people. Regardless of your position, it is now time to put any differences aside and look to the future. It will likely be a few years before the first Board Certification exams are taken? We will probably see in that time what shape health care reform takes? Now is the time for us to unite as a profession. I am asking you not to get too caught up in the distractions on the internet. If you think back to our Mission statement for the Maryland Optometric Association, you can see that in everything we do, we should keep in mind our mission. That mission means providing the best care for our patients, and doing what is best for our profession. Maryland Optometry coming together as a team and improving care for our patients should be our focus. These have been emotional times, but it is up to us to make our association work for the better. I am challenging every MOA member to become more engaged, and involved. We need more volunteers! We need new energy for our association! If we are truly interested in achieving many of the goals that we always complain about, it is time for us to unite positively. This is one of those unique times in history where we have a chance to shape our destiny. Board Certification and other projects will be what we make of it. We can make any of our projects into a force for good. This past weekend I gave a tour of my old high school Georgetown Prep in Rockville, Maryland to Drs. Joe Boorady, John Burns and their families. Joe and John both had sons playing in a lacrosse tournament at Prep. I was proud to see the signs around campus referring to what the Jesuits had instilled in me: "Men and Women for others." Optometry will have an exciting future that will be our choice to shape. Let's strengthen our Optometry team! The Future is Now!

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.

President Maryland Optometric Association

A Capital Affair

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:48:00 +0000

It truly was an historic AOA Convention where the MOA was the official host. After giving the introduction to the meeting I had the pleasure of meeting many OD's and students whom I had never met. It was a wonderful week from the visits to the US Capitol to the Saturday night fireworks. It is now our challenge to move the profession into the 21st century. Our profession will need to become more united than it has over the last 100+ years in order to succeed. I am posting a few pictures here, but please see the MOA Facebook page to see many of the photos and videos I was able to take. I hope everyone enjoyed this past 4th of July weekend. I will be updating the blog more often this year so please come back regularly to see what is happening.

Thanks

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.

President Maryladn Optometric Association.

Board Certification Passes

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:49:00 +0000

AOA Update--Board Certification Passes

We have had a long week at the 112th AOA convention. It was my pleasure to welcome everyone to Maryland at the opening ceremony. As you know it is the first time Maryland has been the host, and it is a beautiful facility in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

There were two amendments made to the Board Certification Model that passed--there were several that failed. The first amendment was to give OD’s 5 points for years in practice up to a maximum of 150 points to qualify for the examination. The old model allowed for 3 points up to a maximum of 75 points. The second change was that you can now get credit for fellowship in COVD just like you can for the Academy.

Consistent with our surveys from the Maryland Optometric Association membership, we (MOA) voted 18 votes against the adoption of the Board Certification Model, and 6 votes for the adoption of BC. Out of the 2013 delegate votes amongst the 50 states, the District of Columbia, AOSA, and AFOS there were 1126 votes cast in favor of Board Certification, and 887 votes cast against Board Certification.

We will send our further updates. Also, it has been wonderful seeing so many Maryland OD’s at the meeting.

MOA Mission & Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:07:00 +0000

I want to thank everyone for attending our recent Town Halls. I believe we have a good process in place for dealing with the issue of Board Certification. I want to remind everyone to keep in mind that the Optometry Students and new graduates are the future of our profession.

Lastly, when the MOA deals with any issue, especially a difficult one like Board Certification we must be directed by our Mission:

MOA Mission Statement: The mission of the MOA is to promote the highest quality eye and vision care to the citizens and diverse communities of the state of Maryland; to support and advance the profession of optometry through advocacy, professional development and public awareness; to serve as a resource for our patients and members; and to provide public health services as an integral part of the health care system.
Adopted May 20, 2008 by MOA Board.

MOA Vision Statement: The MOA will be a model professional support organization for our members and the diverse communities that we serve. The MOA will promote and preserve the highest quality, eye and vision care, and foster future leaders in society.
Adopted May 20, 2008 by MOA Board.

I will see everyone in June for the convention at the Gaylord National.

Shooting from the Lip: The Truth about Board Certification

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:11:00 +0000

For many of you who do not know, your state leaders have been spending many hours becoming educated on the issue of Board Certification that we will be discussing over the next few months--perhaps longer. I have spent many a weekend and evening hour reading the posts on ODwire, Optometric Physician and the proliferation of discussion over the internet. In one sense I believe that this rigorous discourse is good for the profession as we take an active part in our future. On the other hand I am very concerned about the amount of false and misleading information that is out there. Indeed since the time of Socrates, mankind has a desire to get caught up in hysteria and want to believe the worst in things.

As many of my respected colleagues, I can no longer sit on the sidelines but must make a few statements. I would contend that it is one of the failings of my own "Baby Boom Generation" to want to make a poll to determine what is correct, and to determine how the majority feel in a democratic society. People always fail to ask the question, "Is the issue at stake one to which opinion is relevant?" Of course we want to give everyone a proper voice on this matter, but first we must have a proper and fair debate on the issue. I want to dilate on the point that we must first get the facts straight. I am one of the biggest proponents of the internet, Facebook, Second Life, Tele-Town Hall and the new methods of communication. However, these are all based on the proper use of language and debate. Indeed the teachings of Aristotle are where we should look in the proper use of logic, analysis, and evaluation.

Since there are too many issues for me to discuss online, I am asking you to come to one of our Maryland Optometric Association Town Halls to discuss Board Certification, as well as membership, legislation, community service, and many of the issues important to our association. I personally take great offense at many of the postings accusing our leadership of not making honest attempts to inform our members, and give them a proper voice. Indeed much of our time has been taken up having to answer to many of the rumors and stories proliferated over the past year. As many of you know that was not by accident! I understand that people are concerned with not having us take unnecessary exams, or incur other costs. I do not think anyone wants that. I have been to a recent update on Board Certification at Vision Expo East in New York. I will be getting a further updates at the Spring Planning Meeting the last week of April in St. Louis. I will meet with our Anne Arundel Society on April 28th. We will have larger Town Halls in Rockville on May 12th, and in Baltimore on May 19th. I look forward to seeing everyone, giving you the truth about the issues, and having some healthy, rigorous discourse on the issues.

So if you want to hear the truth and get the best information on Board Certification please come to one of our Town Halls. Everyone will have a voice and you will hear the latest, most accurate information. I would continue to read information from the AOA website as things are changing frequently. I would also continue to read ODwire, and Optometric Physician to keep informed about arguments being discussed against Board Certification. I am asking everyone to be absolutely cynical about anything your read or hear about the issue. There is an old saying that you can believe 10% of what you see, none of what you hear.

As I make this post on my iPhone I think about my recent trip to New York for Vision Expo East. Indeed the economic depression has had a great effect on the City, and you can see that in the size of the exhibit hall this year. I was saddened to walk through the Virgin Atlantic Store on their last day to see it completely empty from close-out sales. Apple's iPods and the digital music revolution has completely eliminated CD's, etc. in only a few short years. For those of you who read NYC Daily News Sports Writer Mike Lupica's column: "Shooting from the Lip," let's get fed up with all of the irrelevant polls and hysteria that has been created. If you come to our Maryland Optometric Association Town Halls I promise that you will get the most accurate information, and our members will get a true voice. Enjoy the rest of April and I will see you soon.

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.

President Maryland Optometric Association

March Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Every year in March I spend much of my time in New York. This year I attended the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden for my 25th consecutive year. Twenty-five years ago my Georgetown Hoyas were NCAA champions as they defeated the University of Houston, Akeem "The Dream" Olajuwon, and Phi Slamma Jamma. It seems like yesterday as the crowds converged on the Hilltop, and John Thompson gave his famous speech to the HoyaNation. This year was a much different year as the Hoyas struggled only two years after reaching the Final Four. It reminds me of the point I constantly make to all of my OD's at Kaiser Permanente: "It is how you behave in adversity that defines you."

Indeed the profession of optometry is reaching a crossroads as we tackle the issues of continued competency, and Board certification. It is important that we all educate ourselves on the issues as we go forward. Please read the material in the AOA website as well as Pete Kehoe's blog. I would also recommend Ken Myers piece on ODwire.org, and the Optometric Physician article by Art Epstein. The MOA will have Town Halls to discuss the issue on May 12th at the Far East Restaurant in Rockville, and on May 19th at Snyders in Baltimore. I will also meet with the AAOS on April 28th. I will get updates this weekend at Vision Expo East and in late April at the AOA Spring Planning meeting in April.

As we approach the summer, and the AOA Annual Congress coming to Maryland I am very pleased to have worked with some wonderful people. I want to thank Lauren Gormley for organizing a trip to PCO/Salus and the upcoming Young OD event on April 2nd. I really look forward to meeting the students at PCO every year. I met some very engaging students this year. I look forward to meeting some SUNY students this year at Vision Expo. I will be part of a group of NYSOA members meeting with SUNY students. I also met many of the SUNY residents the week of the Big East Tn as I attended their Grand Rounds Major Presentations. Indeed Optometry has come a long way over the last few years.

This past weekend I enjoyed seeing many of you at our MOA/Wilmer JHU CE event. It is the second year that we held the meeting and it was a great success. Elliott Myrowitz, and William Davis deserve much credit for organizing the education. I will see everyone soon. Enjoy the rest of March Madness! We have a saying at Georgetown--We will live to fight another day!

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.

President Maryland Optometric Association

Georgetown University Board of Governors

Proud Member of Generation Ewing

From South Philly to the Cherry Tree Massacre

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:58:00 +0000

From South Philly to the Cherry Tree Massacres

Last week flew by at light speed. I was greatly honored to give my good friend Bill Lapple, a past President of the NYSOA, and his family a tour of Georgetown University, my alma mater. Bill's daughter, Stephanie is looking to play golf in college, and wanted to visit Georgetown. We had a beautiful sunny day, and I greatly enjoyed showing them the campus and telling them stories about the Hilltop. After a lunch at the Tombs, I headed to Baltimore to meet Dr. Lauren Gormley, the chair of our Young OD committee. We took a drive up to Philadelphia, up Broad Street to the Pennsylvania College of Optometry--see picture to left. I am a SUNY grad, but have made several trips to the new Elkins Park Campus. It looks like a country club compared to the old campus. We had a wonderful visit with 38 students. Lauren and I were really excited about the turnout which was double the number of people we were expecting. It was great taking this road trip with Lauren, and hearing the perspective of a recent optometry school graduate.
On Thursday after work I took a drive to Pasadena, Maryland to a beautiful restaurant called Windows on the Bay for the Anne Arundle Optometric Society meeting. It was a nice to visit another part of the state. I got my driving directions from the AAOS Facebook page powered by Google Maps. In the dark, I thought I was driving right into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. It is always an adjustment for me when I venture beyond the outer loop of the Capital Beltway-495. The AAOS President Jennifer Kungle gave a wonderful lecture on Vision Therapy. We all had a great time. Next door in the lounge a few women were even having a better time--it sounded like they were at a bachelerette party.

On Saturday, after seeing the Hoyas rout the University of Cincinnati at Verizon Center, I attended one of my favorite events: the Cherry Tree Massacre at Georgetown's Historic Gaston Hall. The Cherry Tree Massacre is a concert hosted by the Georgetown Chimes, the legendary A Capella group of Georgetown students, famous for performing at Presidential inaugurations. At the Cherry Tree Massacre, groups from other colleges are invited to perform, do skits and have lots of fun. This year the other a capella groups came from Tufts, UPenn, William and Mary, NYU, and Georgetown's own coed group the Phantoms. It was a great evening again. In the midst of the Presidential Primaries, I reflected on how I have personally heard every US President and major candidate speak at Gaston Hall since President Carter, as well as movies like the Exorcist, and concerts from Ben Folds Five. The Cherry Tree Massacre prepares me for March Madness, Vision Expo in New York and our Gala Fundraiser for the Optometric Center of New York at the Rainbow Room. On Sunday I took a drive up to Charlottesville, VA to visit two of my SUNY Optometry School classmates, Doug and Vick Weiss. They have two sons, their first son is now looking at colleges and is am his Godfather. Vicki is the President of Virginia VOSH. They also work with RAM in Virginia (Random Area Medical). This Sunday March 2nd at 7:00 PM their RAM clinic in Knoxville will be featured where they examined and provided spectacles for over 500 patients. It is great to be an optometrist and provide service to mankind! What a great week! It is a great way to prepare for March Madness and Vision Expo in New York!

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.President Maryland Optometric Association (MOA)
Board of Trustees The Optometric Center or New York
Vice-President Hoya Hoop Club
Board of Governors Georgetown UniversityProud Member of Generation Ewing

Remote Area Medical

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:52:00 +0000

It was September of 1985 when I first matriculated at the SUNY State College of Optometry, then at the corner of 24th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan. Two of the first friends that I made were Doug Weiss and Vicki Molnar. They were wonderful friends from Long Island that I immediately connected with. We all struggled learning to do retinoscopy that first year. Today, Vicki and Doug are married with two wonderful sons Jeremy, and Justin. Jeremy who I recently saw playing the Lead, Troy Bolton, in High School Musical at the Lively Arts Theatre in Charlottesville, VA is my godson. Since we were students Doug and Vicki have been active in VOSH going on missions first with Maryland VOSH that is now Northeast VOSH. Moreover, Vicki has founded a new chapter, Virginia VOSH and has organized nine Remote Area Medical Missions to Wise, Virginia with her husband Doug & her two sons. It was quite an experience for me as I drove the 8.5 hours from Chevy Chase, Maryland with my fellow Kaiser Permanente co-worker, Janet Stein, O.D. We saw approximately 1100 patients in two and a half days. It was exhausting, but it felt good being tired as we were able to provide important services to many people. There was a very impressive group of dentists from VCU and the state of Virginia. Doug and I were both very impressed as we are both the sons of dentists.

We also had a very impressive group of students from UAB led by faculty member Caroline Pate, O.D. I found out the Caroline is a friend of our ESOS President Dr. Alan Bishop. The students were wonderful. I also met one student who graduated from Holton-Arms High School right down the road from me. We also were fortunate to have two of my friends and colleagues, Theresa Solaski, O.D. who I had just worked with at the Maryland Special Olympics, and Reshma Katira, M.D. from the Retina Group of Washington. Reshma and I had talked recently about the RAM trip to Wise at a recent CE meeting in Bethesda, Maryland. It was great to spend time with her and Theresa. Moreover, I had a wonderful experience working with Lions volunteers and several ophthalmologists from Virginia. Vicki even introduced me to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as he toured our eye clinic. I was very impressed with the job Doug and Vicki have done all these years building the program. I had heard much about the program, but there is nothing like experiencing it first hand. I look forward to being a part of this mission for years to come. If you would like to see other information about the RAM in Wise, I have listed some links below to 60 minutes, the NY Times, etc. It certainly reminded me of one of the tenets of Georgetown University: Men and Women for Others!

http://www.ramusa.org/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/28/60minutes/main3889496.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18healthcare-t.html?ex=1353042000&en=45a611979685cadf&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

http://www.newsweek.com/id/150846

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment/soundslides.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-07-27-0204.html

World Sight Day - 9th October 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:33:00 +0000

World Sight Day - 9th October 2008

Please join me, Thomas Wong, O.D. your MOA President, and Barry Weiner, O.D., MOA's 2007 recipient of the Mel Waxman Award & the Deputy Co-Chair of Optometry Giving Sight and join OGS's World Sight Challenge Day. An estimated 300 million people who are visually impaired do not have access to an eye exam and/or a pair of glasses. There are numerous ways you can participate. You can make a personal or practice donation. You can host an event, and/or invite patients to participate. Barry has set the example for Maryland Optometry pointing out to us that participating is the right thing to do. As I sit and watch the Olympics in Beijing, China I realize that many of you may ask a valid question, "Why support health care programs in foreign countries when we have so many poor and disadvantaged people in the United States?" While I agree that we need to do more and provide better services for citizens of the USA, we are clearly now part of a global community and economy. As members of the USA Basketball team so properly stated that basketball is no longer an American game that was invented in the USA, but a global game, i.e. the World's Game! Eye and Vision Care is something we need to provide for our fellow US citizens as well as our fellow citizen's of the world. It is the right thing to do! You can find out more information by going to the following site: http://www.givingsight.org/index.asp

We have many events coming in the Fall! I hope to see everyone at our MOA convention on November 8th and 9th at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor: http://www.marylandeyes.org/

Don't forget World Sight Day October 9, 2008!

Sleepless in Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:03:00 +0000

Optometry's Meeting June 2008 Seattle, Washington

As usual the day prior to my trip to Optometry's Meeting in Seattle, I had a million things to do. The weekend before I left for Seattle, I was a Georgetown University Board of Governors Retreat, at the Airlie Conference Center, a former CIA facility. It was a wonderful, but exhausting weekend with my fellow Georgetown Board of Governors. The Retreat/Strategic Planning Session was very enlightening. After leaving work on Monday, I drove to a fundraiser for Shane Pendergrass in Columbia, Maryland. The directions from Mapquest had an error, and the air conditioning in my car was broken. I have since purchased a new car after returning from Seattle. It was nice to see Del. Pendergrass who was very gracious speaking to Maryland OD's, as she always has been. After packing and doing some work at home, I drove to Dulles Airport early Tuesday morning arriving about 90 minutes prior to my flight. The rest of my week is now a blur and I will list a brief summary:

Tuesday June 24th:

Arrival at SeaTac Airport.

Check-In at Seattle Sheraton.

Lunch with Dr. Joe Boorady, COO Eyemaginations.

Drinks with Dr. Derrick Artis, Vision Source.

Skype Video Conference Georgetown Athletics Reception at Alumni House.

Dinner at Anthony's.

Wednesday June 25th:

AOA President's Council 8:00 AM-1:00 PM--I was serving as the facilitator for Membership.

Northeast State Meeting and interviews for AOA Delegate Candidates.

Opening Reception.

Optometry Fundraiser for ILAMO.

Thursday June 26th:

Opening ceremony with Christopher Gardner.

AOA House of Delegates.

Alcon State President Luncheon.

Exhibit Hall Opening Reception.

Dinner with Rob Stutman and John Burns from MOA Board.

Varilux Super Bowl and Recption with AOSA students.

Friday June 27th:

AOA House of Delegates.

Lunch with Gillan Cockrell, SGRC from Kansas.

Cornea and Contact Lens Section Reception.

SUNY Optometry Alumni Reception.

Dinner with MOA Delegation (Nina & Drew Doyle, Rob Stutman, and Jennifer Thornton) at Elliott's on the Waterfront.

Party for new AOA President Pete Kehoe at Fox Sports Bar featuring the "Bad Habits of Optometry."

Saturday June 28th:

AOA House of Delegates.

Lunch in Exhibit Hall.

Voting and Installation of new AOA Officers.

Dinner with Massachusetts Optometric Association.

Presidential Celebration with Jay Leno.

Sunday June 29th:

Return to Dulles Airport.

Hightlights of Seattle AOA Congress:

Opening Ceremony with Christopher Gardner was very entertaining.

Varilux AOSA Super Bowl.

Dinner on Lake Union.

Dinner with MOA delegation at Elliott's.

Spirited discussion at Northeast States Meeting.

Election of Chris Quinn from New Jersey.

Seeing AOA trustees dance and party at Fox Sports Bar.

Informal meeting with Kentucky Optometric Association.

Presidential Recption with Jay Leno--very high energy!

Six days of sunny weather in Seattle altough I was indoors most of the time

Upon returning from Seattle, I still have not gotten much sleep, but had a wonderful, productive week where I learned quite a bit from other states and their optometric associations. I kept looking but never found my Meg Ryan! Upon arriving at Dulles airport I got all of my text messages about the start of the Nike Kenner Summer Basketball League. Also, 6' 10" Julian Vaughn who transferred to GU from Florida State will not have to sit out a year and is eligible immediately. Greg Monroe moved into his Copley Dorm and played for the Tombs on Saturday July 5th. After just watching the new GU freshman play this past weekend, the future looks bright! Only 100 to Midnight Madness! Only 350 days before the AOA Congress comes to Prince George's County Maryland at the Gaylord National! Please mark this on your calendar (June 24-28, 2009) as we will celebrate Maryland Optometry!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.

President Maryland Optometric Association

The Road to Cooperstown

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:40:00 +0000

The 113th Annual Meeting of the NYSOA

It was from 1985 to 1989 that I attended the SUNY State College of Optometry. I can still remember driving I-95 from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland as I still often do. When approaching the city limits of Baltimore, I would see the Bromo Seltzer Tower, the Montgomery Ward Building, and the large Billboard of Cal Ripken, Jr. The Billboard would announce the number of games remaining to Cooperstown. It referred to the number of games left for Cal to surpass legendary New York Yankee Lou Gehrig's consecutive game record of 2130 games. I was fortunate to attend that game on September 6, 1995. After the Washington Senators left for Texas in 1972 I had become a Baltimore Oriole fan, although basketball still remains my true love. As a student at Georgetown University, I always admired the Yankees but was never a fan of the team. After attending many NY Mets & Yankee games during my SUNY Optometry days, I became the NY Yankee fan that I am today. I am still amazed that baseball has actually returned to Washington with the Washington Nationals and our beautiful new ballpark.

As Cal Ripken, Jr. approached the record, many people were very upset thinking that Lou Gehrig's record was one record that should not be broken. Indeed anyone who saw the classic movie, Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper can understand that sentiment. The Oscar winning movie is one of my favorites as the Iron Horse dies from the rare disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) that now bears his name. However, baseball was losing popularity from the player strikes, and Cal's pursuit of the record captured the attention of the nation. I still remember the great Joe DiMaggio attending the game to present to Cal Ripken, Jr.

As those who know me well know, I consider New York to be my second home. Although I am a Washingtonian, and have lived most of my life in the state of Maryland that I truly love, I also consider myself a New Yorker. This past weekend I fulfilled another dream of mine attending the NYSOA annual meeting in Cooperstown, New York. I flew to Albany and rented a car to drive the 90 minutes to Cooperstown. It was a wonderful trip. I stayed with the NYSOA group at the Otesaga Resort Hotel, a beautiful place for a meeting, right on Lake Otsego. Otesaga is an Iroquois term meaning " A Place for Meeting." As all Georgetown University alumni know Potomac, is an Algonquian term meaning "Meeting Place." After my friend Jan Dorman, Executive Director of the NYSOA, explained the history of Lake Otsego and the town of Cooperstown, I was interested to see that the Susquehanna River originates from Lake Otsego. Indeed the Susquehanna river originates from the southern end of Lake Otsego, zigzags through New York and Pennsylvania ending in Havre de Grace, Maryland the home and birthplace of Cal Ripken, Jr. Lake Otsego was also known to James Fenimore Cooper as the Glimmerglass, being a principal feature in many of his novels including the Last of the Mohicans.

I had a wonderful time a the NYSOA convention meeting many new friends, and being able to spend time with many of my long time friends like Jan Dorman, and fellow optometrists Andy Sacco, Denise Whittam, Tom Landry, Mitch Horowitz, and Fran Reinstein. Before I left the convention, I received a big surprise. The NYSOA had voted to offer me an honorary membership. Apparently it was the first honorary membership given in 35 years by the NYSOA since Mort Kimmelman. It was truly one of the great honors in my professional career to be part of the New York State Optometric Association, and something I will always treasure. Marylanders always love New York. As I spent a long time in the baseball Hall of Fame seeing the plaques to many of my favorite players like Yankees Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, and Orioles like Brooks Robinson, Earl Weaver, Eddie Murray, and Cal Ripken, Jr. My favorite part was seeing the locker of Babe Ruth. George Herman Ruth is perhaps the most famous baseball player of all time who was born in Baltimore, Maryland and attended St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. As everyone knows he took the Road to Cooperstown through Boston to become a Hall of Fame player for the New York Yankees. That night in 1995 Cal Ripken, Jr. also completed his road to Cooperstown. Again, thanks again to my friends from NYSOA for a very memorable weekend and a great honor.

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.

President Maryland Optometric Association

Proud Honorary Member of the New York State Optometric Association

Maryland Optometry--Understanding our Mission & Vision for the Future!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:23:00 +0000

Fellow Maryland Optometrists,
I have been asked by several of my colleagues to include in my blog, some history behind our joint CE program with the University of Maryland. I understand that many of you have valid concerns as to why the MOA would promote and sponsor this program. Maryland has a long history of being the last state to have DPA's passed, and continues to be behind the rest of the country in other legislation. However we were approached by an MOA member stating that the University of Maryland Ophthalmology Department came to him and wanted to"mend fences". Our member volunteered to organize the event and we decided to move forward and support him. We have just had a wonderful event with Wilmer/JHU which was well received by all. We need to promote a better understanding of optometry and the services that we are capable of providing. Your MOA Board would like to ask everyone to consider attending, most of the speakers are new to University of Maryland and a strong attendance could help us in future efforts. I know that I, the current President of the MOA will attend. I sincerely wanted to attend the Wilmer event on March 30th but a scheduling conflict prevented me from attending.
To give you some brief history, last year the MOA Board was presented with two groups, Wilmer/JHU, and the University of Maryland that wanted to work with us to create two educational programs. I being the President-Elect of the MOA at the time was not overly enamored by either proposal. I was not against working with either group, but felt that our more primary educational need was to initiate and promote an education program in the DC Maryland Suburban area, e.g. the new Marriott North Bethesda Convention Center. My reasons were that Montgomery and PG Counties were very important counties that we have long neglected. Years ago we used to rotate our convention between Rockville and the Baltimore Inner Harbor. While I agree that it makes sense to keep our annual convention in Baltimore every year, I would contend that we need to have a yearly major program in Montgomery or PG County. They are by far the largest counties in the state of Maryland by population. Also, I would argue that it contains the largest group of young optometrists who could be potential future members. Furthermore, many of our legislative issues are becoming more Federal in nature. In spite of my reservations I was in full support of the MOA collaborating with Wilmer/JHU and the University of Maryland. We had volunteers eager to take on the projects and it gave us the opportunity to work with two of the most important groups in Maryland Health Care. My desire to have a program closer to where I reside in North Bethesda/Rockville could still be done at another time.
Two weeks ago I attended the AOA Spring Planning Meeting in St Louis that serves as the meeting site for all of the AOA volunteer committees, and the 18 month planning session for the AOA President-Elect Peter Kehoe. If people remember Peter from his visit to Baltimore a few years ago, you will remember how personable and helpful Peter always is. One of Peter's comments was that the AOA needs to move past being a parochial, optometric association to being a true national health care organization. The AOA has been very involved in its Healthy Eyes Healthy People 2010 project. For the first time in its history, vision care has been part of the Healthy People national health care agenda. I was the first HEHP consultant for the state of Maryland working with Lisa McGinn, O.D. on the training program for school nurses. Nina Doyle, O.D. is our current HEHP respresentative for Maryland. Nina has really taken the program to new heights. For some general information about the HEHP program please visit this site: http://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/060100.asp
A major goal of the HEHP program is forming alliances and collaborations with different organizations including opthalmology groups. Certainly Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland are two of the most important groups in the state of Maryland. I understand that we have a long history and many concerns but dialogue, improved communications, and improved collaboration can only be beneficial. I am sure that we will continue to have ups and downs, but we need to start somewhere. Being a 1989 graduate of SUNY Optometry I came to Maryland a year after DPA's were passed in Annapolis, so I am very familiary with much of our history. If former Intel Chairman Gordon Moore's Law is correct then in the next 3-5 years we will undergo as much change as a profession as what has happened since DPA's were first passed in Maryland. Much of that change we know is coming like Electronic Medical Records (EMR's), pay for performance, and other major health care changes on the horizon. Many of the optometrists and ophthalmologists in Maryland will soon be of an age where they were not even born in the 1980's.
Lastly, I would like to encourage anyone who can attend our conference on June 8th to please consider attending. A good attendance is important for everyone involved. At our most recent CMOS meeting I attended and addressed the group about Board Certification and all the controversy--please see the previous blog. I had heard that there was much discussion at the recent GBOS and AAOS meetings that I was unable to attend. I was surprised that there were very few concerns amongst most of the CMOS and OSDC members. Although, perhaps it was a less outspoken group. Afterwards, I did speak to a few people who had valid concerns, and a few others who were very emotional about the issue. After a brief discussion, I would guess that some were very emotional without knowing all of the facts? Then I spoke to an old friend Monroe Stokvis who to my surprise told me that he reads every word of my newsletters, and blogs. He kind of scared me by that. I have always admired Monroe and many of our senior OD's in Maryland for making sure they are educated and aware of the important topics in optometry. I want to caution those who are very passionate about about various causes to make sure that they, like Dr. Stokvis have their facts straight.
In conclusion I often think back to my college days studying philosphy under Dr. Daniel Robinson, now at Oxford Univiersity. He often talked about Socrates and his belief that the Unexamined Life is not worth living. That indeed the integration of our experiences constitutes a veritable life subject to refinement by self-criticism and reflection. The experiences have to have a validity and truthfulness about them or we are living the life of a slave. Dr. Robinson would often quote Aristotle and the end of his treatise on politics saying, Dioper aneu orexeos nous o nomos estin. "The Law is therefore reason without passion." We must be careful that our passions do not override our reason. It is important to build relationships and better understanding. Please consider coming to our program with the University of Maryland Ophthalmologists on June 8th. It will be great!

Board Certification--A Lesson in Staying Connected

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Board Certification—A Lesson in Staying Connected

As I mentioned at our MOA convention in November, we have now moved past the days of websites, and e-mail to more powerful networking engines like Facebook, Second Life, and Tele-Town Hall. My new MOA Viewpoint Blog will be the perfect forum to present and answer questions about the Board Certification issue. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the GBOS meeting last week where there were apparently quite a few questions about the Board Certification project. I will give you a summary of the issue here, but encourage you to post questions to this blog if you have any. We will discuss this at many meetings over the next year, so you will have plenty of time to ask questions. The bottom line is that there was a Joint Board Certification Project Team (JBCPT) set up around the time of the Northeast meeting at Vision Expo in March of 2007. The JBCPT was composed of members of approximately six organizations, i.e. AAO, AOA, ARBO, NBEO, etc. So it is not an AOA project or is it even led by AOA. Right now the JBCPT is in an exploratory or information gathering stage. They do not have a proposal, or anything to present at this time. They have been asked to give us more specifics by September 2008, and are understandably concerned about delivering incomplete, inaccurate info. They probably will not have a formal proposal for us to discuss before the beginning of 2009. At our MOA Convention in Baltimore David Cockrell from the AOA spoke about the issue at some length during our Sunday luncheon. AOA representative Randy Brooks has been very accessible to discuss the issue at numerous meetings. The message from the JBCPT is that the issue of Board certification is completely different from the ABOP issue that almost divided the profession during the AOA Congress in Las Vegas, June 2000. I remember traveling to the meeting with Tim Madgar and Mike Sless. As we entered the House of Delegates the debate was cancelled and the ABOP issue was completely dropped.

I know the JBCPT is doing their research. They have a meeting soon with the Board of Family Medicine. I would advise all MOA members to post to this blog if you have questions. Also, I and many of the MOA Board members will be available at meetings to answer questions. Our AOA rep will be responsive to any concerns or questions we have. I know that it is problematic that in optometry we have so many organizations and causes that require our time and money, and I know that this is a very emotional issue. I am aware of some of the online petitions against Board Certification. Remember that we are the only specialty profession without any type of Board Certification process. We do not know if this may be for all practicing OD’s or a small subset of the profession, e.g. those who wish to be certified in Low Vision. Over the next few years there will be major changes to healthcare in the USA, along with changes in Medicare, pay for performance, and mandatory use of electronic medical records. Indeed the landscape is changing rapidly. I was at all three 2020 Summits, and there was definitely a desire to demonstrate to the public continued competency which is very different from our state licenses and national boards which are meant to measure entry level competence. I would caution everyone not to jump to conclusions until we have something tangible to discuss. I do not have an opinion on the issue at this time. I do have several concerns as I am sure everyone does. However, it does not look good for optometry if we are always making emotional responses, and are not willing to listen to new proposals. I would encourage everyone to read the past AOA news especially Jack Terry’s response to a question and Karen Riccio from Ohio’s letter to the editor:

Please see: http://www.aoanews.org/documents/AOANews_Mar242008.pdf

Again please post to this blog if you have questions. If I do not know the answer I will find out for you.

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.
President Maryland Optometric Association

2008 AOA Advocacy meeting in DC, Wednesday April 9, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:49:00 +0000

I am very thankful for this being the 4th year that I have attended this conference, because given the morning I had...I probably would have gone straight home if it had been my first year! Many of you know I am in the midst of relocating my office across the street from my current office. Because of this, and the fact that we are at the stage when things are crazy, and I am constantly on the phone with my architect and builder- I made the decision to take the Marc from Baltimore and then transfer to the Metro to arrive at the JW Marriott this morning as opposed to booking a hotel. Well, taking the 5:51AM Marc to transfer to the Metro went fine, until... Upon boarding the Metro, my bag got stuck in the automatic doors! I struggled with the bag and the doors with visions of being sucked out of the Metro train because I would never let go of my bag...Finally a really nice lady showed me how to push on the doors to release them and saved my bag (and me). Bad enough right? Well there is more to this crazy morning! After arriving at Metro Center, I got lost trying to find my way to F street! While rushing around trying to find the right exit, I walked by a vision-impaired gentleman who was in the process of unfolding his white cane. Can you guess what happened next?...Yes, my leg inadvertenly kicked his cane out of his hand while he snapped it open just as I was walking by...of course I stopped and gave him back his cane, apologized, spent about 5 minutes asking him if there was anything else I could do to help him...But perserverence pays off. I made it to our meeting at the JW Marriott with 5 minutes to spare! Anyway, my point with this story is getting involved in AOA advocacy is not difficult. In fact the AOA breakfast meeting and all of our meetings with our legislators went very smoothly. In my case it is the public transportation that proved to be difficult! Thank you to Valerie Seligson, and Tom Wong for attending the breakfast. We had the largest ever attendance with 500 OD's plus 104 students. I also want to thank Beverly Miller and Gemini Aurillo who went with me to each of our meetings today with our legislative representatives. We helped to educate our elected officials on the issues that affect our patients and our practices. I am looking forward to our AOA Advocacy Conference next year! I look forward to many more of our Maryland OD's to attend! Save the Date! June 22-24, 2009 in Washington DC for our next Advocacy Conference.

Tracie King, O.D.
2nd Vice-President Maryland Optometric Association

Joint Wilmer/JHU CE Program

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:10:00 +0000

It started as a brisk morning as I drove into Baltimore,you could tell Oriole Park was getting ready for opening day. As I arrived at Wilmer I was pleasantly surprised that the garage I wanted to park in was FREE..yeah.As I arrived and checked in at 8:30 am I was amazed at the venders all set up and ready to go. Generally on a Sunday only CE there are no vendors. Then I walked into the lecture hall and had a flashback, just like school an amphitheater with pop up writing desks. Dr. Elliott Myrowitz did an outstanding job of organizing the event. It was a fast paced, high quality and interactive event. Most speakers went between 20-30 minutes with every section followed by a question and answer period. This was a big hit. Most of the docs who spoke were Wilmer Faculty, Mike Sless (former prez of MOA) had some humurous slides that got a laugh out of everyone.Overall a great event, as a member of the board I will try to encourage this type of CE in the future and hope to see many more of you at these types of events. I think this was a record turnout.

John Burns, O.D.

First Vice-President Maryland Optometric Association

If You Build It They Will Come

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:55:00 +0000

March has been a very difficult month for me as my Georgetown Hoyas were upset down in Raleigh, North Carolina by Davidson. As I look forward to April and the Spring, I am recovering from some type of virus that hit me during my trip to Raleigh. As I sit here watching the Washington Nationals Presidential Home Opener in their new stadium, I am truly amazed that baseball has returned to the nation's capital. I had thought only a few years ago that I would never again see baseball in Washington. As a youngster I grew up as a Washington Senator fan with Frank Howard being my hero. The Baltimore Orioles were somewhat of a rival, as the Senators were usually in last place and the Orioles were arguably the best team in baseball at that time along with the Oakland A's, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds. I do remember taking a drive to Memorial Stadium once with my family to see Earl Weaver's Orioles, and what an event that was to see the powerful Baltimore Orioles: truly a model franchise. After the Senators left Washington, basketball became my real true love as it was just not the same without your own home baseball team. As a high school sophomore, I remember praying that the Red Sox would win the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds since my Spanish teacher, Father Elliott was a huge Red Sox and Luis Tiant fan. Unfortunately, we suffered through the rest of the year as the Red Sox lost the World Series giving more publicity to the curse of the Bambino. This feeling continued as I became a Georgetown undergraduate student, and the New York Yankees won two World Series with the second one coming after Bucky Dent's famous home run against the Red Sox. I really hated to see the Yankees win. The Yankee fans at Georgetown from the NYC Metro area were truly loud and obnoxious. When I moved to New York to attend the SUNY College of Optometry, I was amazed to see how a baseball team truly altered the fabric of a city. The New York Mets defeated the Red Sox in 1986 to capture the heart of New York. At that time the Yankees had a great hitting team but no pitching. When the Boss, George Steinbrenner finally let the baseball people bring in some good young pitching the Yankees would win four World Series in 6 years. When Terry Francona brought Curt Schilling and other pitchers to the Red Sox, they finally ended 80 + years of frustration dismissing the curse of the Bambino as the Red Sox won two World Series in the last four years. Truly when the base of the Red Sox organization became more stable with the improvement in their pitching, the team blossomed. Hopefully, Baltimore Oriole owner Peter Angelos will some day take note. As I had converted to a Yankee fan in the late 1980's when I lived in New York, I am excited to become a Washington Nationals fan. Their new stadium like Baltimore's Camden Yards in the 1980's is supposed to be the new prototype for the future. It reminds me of one of my favorite movies, "The Field of Dreams", with Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones. As I have been devastated by Georgetown's loss in the NCAA's in Raleigh, I take solace in knowing how far Georgetown's program has come back in the last few years under the coaching of John Thompson III. With the wonderful recruits coming over the next few years I know that the program is on a solid foundation. As big John Thompson would say, "We will live to fight another day!" Even though the Washington Nationals have a long way to go I feel good about their future. In seeing the new ballpark, I do indeed know that fans will come.
I believe that now our Maryland Optometric Association is on solid ground. We have worked hard to re-establish our local societies, reach out to students and young OD's, and provide service to our communities in Maryland. Please get involved and attend meetings of your local socieities. If you read our MOA e-newsletters you will see all of the community service projects we are becoming involved in. I know that we have Special Olympics returning to Towson University in June which is a wonderful event. I am finalizing plans to do a vision screening and eye exams for the Washington Jesuit Academy in May for many middle-school aged boys mostly from inner city areas of Washington, D.C. and Prince George's County in Maryland. If you would like to volunteer your time please let me know. The following link will tell you more about the school: http://www.wjacademy.org/
Building our Association is everyone's responsibility!

Thanks

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.
President Maryland Optometric Association

Launch of the Student MOA at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:54:00 +0000

By Lauren Gormley, O.D.

As a very exciting addition to the Young OD Committee of the MOA, there has now been a sector established for the youngest Optometrists-- the students!
February 18th marked the establishment of the Student MOA at PCO. This group will be maintained by the students of PCO: lead by a second year student president, Eleanor Kim, and a first year student liaison. There was such enthusiasm by the students in the first year class (of 2011) that we ended up deciding on two co-liaisons, Gayle Lowe and Jonathan Reynon. Thirty eight other students have been added to the ranks of the student MOA members.

This group will allow the students to communicate through the chair of the Young OD committee, Lauren Gormley (me) the needs of our colleagues still working toward their doctorate of optometry. Some of the concerns identified were the need for more externship sites in the state of Maryland. Many of the students plan on returning to practice in Maryland and would like to use their externships at PCO to learn the different areas of the state as well as scope of practice and practice types available in Maryland. Additionally, for students who are in their fourth year, many are concerned about finding employment, as well as basic business information to begin practicing as an Optometrist.
The initiative of the Young OD Committee, in association with the MOA Board, is to make the transition from student optometrist to young optometrist in Maryland an easy and fulfilling one. Some of the needs are already being addressed! The young OD committee has begun work with the department of clinical externship affairs at PCO to establish new and varied externship sites in the state. In the April issue to the MOA newsletter, the Eyewitness, a brief qualification list will be included to encourage practitioners to evaluate if their practice would offer a good externship opportunity for students.
These are only the first steps in establishing a strong, and much needed, bridge between practicing optometrists in MD and student optometrists who will soon be joining us in our state.

Lauren Gormley, O.D.
Chairperson Maryland Young OD Committee
PCO Class of 2007

Reporting Back From the Healthy Eyes Healthy People 6th Annual Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:51:00 +0000

By Nina Nghi Doyle, O.D.

Representing Maryland as the Healthy Eyes Healthy People Consultant, I attended the 6th Annual Conference, held in St. Louis, Missouri. Healthy Eyes Healthy People (HEHP) is a community-based education and health promotion program created by the American Optometric Association. The goal of the HEHP program is to address the ten vision objectives of the Healthy People 2010, a health promotion and disease prevention initiative developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Since the creation of HEHP in 2001, over $810,000 in grants have been awarded to support state programs through generous support from the Luxottica Group and VSP. Maryland has been a proud grant recipient for the past four years. The first two years HEHP funded the training and materials to Baltimore City School nurses about vision screenings. Recently, the Senior Vision Awareness Campaign educated Maryland’s seniors and their caretakers about the importance of a dilated eye examination to prevent vision loss from diseases affecting seniors by visiting senior centers and health fairs.

At the HEHP conference, there were 79 participants representing 42 states. Many states shared their own experiences with HEHP. The grant topics were diverse, including educating school nurses about elementary school vision screenings, increasing diabetes education through creative ways, increasing safety wear in workers and motorcycle riders, and early screening and intervention for toddlers. The conference facilitated the sharing of program ideas as well as lessons learned from those experiences. While many state programs were unique, some were replications of other successful state grant programs. In the spirit of health promotion, attendees were able to share their program’s success in order to encourage another state to apply for a grant. As a previous grant recipient, I was given the opportunity to mentor the new state consultants. It is inspiring and motivating to be surrounded by so many volunteers that are committed to improving eye health from all across the country, from all varieties of practice modes.

Two optometry schools, the New England College of Optometry and NOVA, now require their students to complete a community-based project with the same goals as HEHP. Schools are instilling a sense of community activism and involvement such that new graduates are not only clinically proficient, but they are motivated to get involved in the community to promote ocular health for all patients. Some of these projects have gone on to receive funding, thus sustaining the project and making an impact in those communities.

In Maryland, our HEHP programs have given us an opportunity to collaborate with such groups as the Maryland Society for Sight and the Maryland Department of Aging. Our newest collaboration is with the Maryland Diabetes Control and Prevention Coalition. The Maryland Optometric Association will serve as a resource to the coalition members in educating about the importance of dilated eye examinations to detect the presence or absence of diabetic retinopathy. Our other collaboration is with the Polakoff Foundation’s The Eyes Have It Program. This is a monthly glaucoma screening program that rotates through the four quadrants of the city of Baltimore.

If you are interested in joining the Maryland Healthy Eyes Healthy People Committee or have an idea for a program, please contact Nina Doyle at (410) 721-2500 or at Nina.Doyle@gmail.com.

Nina Nghi Doyle, O.D.
NECO Class of 2003
Secretary-Maryland Optometric Association
Immediate Past-President Anne Arundel Optometric Society
HEHP Consultant--Maryland

The Changing Face of Optometry

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stutman, O.D., MBA) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:32:00 +0000

My first two months as President of the Maryland Optometric Association have been very busy and exciting. We have had the annual convention in December 2007 during the Army-Navy game, a trip to the AOA Washington office & Capitol Hill, and a young OD event at the ESPN Zone in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. On January 9, 2008 I took Amtrak to New York for our Optometric Center of New York Executive Board meeting at the SUNY State College of Optometry as I have done many times. I have been on the Board for about 5 years and it has been a great experience keeping me in touch with optometric education, and our changing profession. The Optometric Center of New York was started as a clinic in Manhattan in 1956 by an act of then New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, after Columbia University closed their Optometry program. The founding and now past President of SUNY-Optometry Dr. Norman Haffner was recruited to be the second and first true executive director of the OCNY while he was becoming the first optometrist to be a commissioned officer in the armed services. Dr. Haffner searched for years to find an opportunity to start an Optometry College in New York State with little success. Then prior to the 1971 opening of SUNY-Optometry, Nelson Rockefeller purchased with his own money 63 colleges in New York state, and Dr. Haffner founded the 64th college in the SUNY system, the SUNY State College of Optometry. The SUNY system is currently the largest University system in the world. Today the OCNY Board serves as a Foundation that is the funding arm of the SUNY College of Optometry. As I read the minutes from our last meeting on the train, I reflected on my years in the profession of Optometry and my years living in New York which I consider my second home. If you would like to read about my history of moving to New York in the mid 1980's you can visit my Georgetown University Hoya Hoop Club Blog from the 2007 Big East Tournament here: http://guhoyas.cstv.com/genrel/030507aab.html

My first few weeks in New York were very hurried as I adapted to life in "The City." As the legend says true New Yorkers may move away to other states like Florida, but in the end they always return to NYC which is composed of the 5 boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. However, it is the borough of Manhattan that New Yorkers refer to when they refer to going into "The City." To New Yorkers this is the only city. It makes me think of our Maryland Board meetings when people tell me that Baltimoreans don't like to leave Baltimore, and in the Washington, D.C. area where we refer to the world ending outside of the outer loop of the Capital Beltway. I do remember my first week of Optometry School, meeting Tom Hanks as he was filming the movie "Big" on 23rd Street outside the Hasbro Building. It is now a Home Depot. SUNY-O was on 24th Street and Park Avenue across from the New York Life, Metropolitan Life Building, near the Flatiron Building and Madison Square Park. The park was mostly deserted at that time. Today at the 42nd Street building we are across from the newly rebuilt Bryant Park. I was amazed to see a beautiful skating rink in Bryant Park. The school is in a much nicer area today.

Back in the late 1980's the school was set up along a departmental system where you had separate departments on different floors, e.g Primary Care, Vision Therapy, Contact Lenses, Low Vision, Ocular Pathology, and Infant Vision. If you were seen in Primary Care you then needed to be referred or given an appointment in other departments like Contact Lenses, or Ocular Pathology. Other schools like PCO had utilized a modular system where you were seen in a certain module and everything was taken care of their. Today SUNY has moved to hybrid model where most things are handled in your module but the separate departments on different floors still exist for specialty care. The advantages to the older departmental system is that you could have true specialty care, more specialized teaching, and you could attract many part-time faculty with tremendous amounts of real world experience. The disadvantage was that it could be very bureaucratic, and inefficient. In the real world you would see an optometrist and have everything done in one place hence the modular system. The incorporation of modular aspects has been important to preparing students for the "real world."

As I see SUNY-Optometry over the years there are too many changes in the school and the profession for me to comment on in this blog. The major structural changes in the school are obviously the new building and location, the alumni lounge, the stadium seated classrooms and auditorium that are wired for laptops, internet, LCD projectors, etc. The new library system provides our students and alumni access to the library and journal resources through the internet. Our new President, David Heath, O.D. was the former Dean at NECO. He is instituting many aesthetic changes to the College throughout the building to project an improved image to visitors/patients, students, faculty, and alumni. We are looking to have a small art gallery in the front of the building, and changing the second floor to provide career placement, computer access, and state of the art continuing education for students and alumni. Student housing is still a long range project and presents a formidable financial challenge in New York.

Optometry and the entire ophthalmic industry has changed drastically also. Now students are well trained in the co-management of refractive surgery from the very beginning of their education. Contact lenses have greatly improved especially in the area of toric, and multifocal lenses. Silicone Hydrogel lenses have really changed the market recently. Twenty years ago, disposable contact lenses were relatively new to the market, and contact lenses represented the highest form of correction for refractive error. RK was being done with little success, and the excimer laser was in its early stages. Today, custom LASIK and other forms of refractive surgery are very commonplace and represent the state of the art for the correction of refractive error. There have been many technological advances in low vision as well as improvements in all areas of ocular pathology.

After the meeting I attended a New York Knick game vs Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets in Madison Square Garden where I have spent much of my life. It was great fun as usual, but the Knicks are no longer a playoff contender as they were during my Optometry School days when the Knicks were led by my former Hoya classmate, Patrick Ewing.

Since we were having such unusually warm weather, I decided to also take a walk in the city and be a tourist for the afternoon. I headed through Times Square, the Avenue of the Americas, and up 5th Avenue. I made my usual stops at Rockefeller Center, St. Patricks Cathedral, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's Brooks Brothers, Tiffany's, and my favorite store FAO Shwartz. The famous toy store seen in Tom Hanks movie, "Big," looked like it had been hit by a tornado after Christmas. It still sold the famous sports cars, and stuffed animals. There was still a Star Wars area like in the 1980's. However, there were many new things like Harry Potter toys. I saw some of the young girls doing their dances on the giant piano as Tom Hanks did in the movie. As I exited FAO Shwartz to see the new Plaza Hotel I noticed a large glass enclosure with a large white apple. I took the elevator down below the ground and found a gigantic Apple-iPOD store. It was at least 5X larger than any other that I have ever seen. Steve Jobs had just announced his$3.99-$4.99 movies for his iPOD's. The next day I had dinner at Henry's End in Brooklyn Hts, and took the train home. As I reflected on the changes in Optometry and at the SUNY State College of Optometry my experience at the iPOD store made me reflect on how my life had become much more complicated. I used to laugh when I heard that some people were using two mobile phones. As I thought about what I had packed, I realized that I now always travel with 3 mobile phones including a blackberry, my laptop, a PSP, a digital camera, my satellite radio, and my iPOD. As I checked my work and home e-mail, I thought about how much more complicated life has become and how people have information overload. I anticipate the world will undergo just as many changes in my two years as President of the Maryland Optometric Association, as they have in the last 10 years. Hopefully, I will only need to carry one electronic device instead of what I carry today.

I hope that the new blog feature of the MOA Web site will give you better insight into Maryland Optometry and our state association. If you have any thoughts or suggestions please feel free to contact me. E-mail is usually the best way to reach me.

Thanks!
Hoya Saxa!

Thomas A. Wong, O.D.
SUNY College of Optometry '89
President Maryland Optometric Association
Optometric Center of New York Board of Trustees
Optometry Supervisor Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States
Vice-President Georgetown University Hoya Hoop Club
Georgetown University Board of Governors