Tuesday, January 3, 2017

End of an era

By the time you are reading this, the Pennsylvania Optometric Association will be transitioning to a new executive director for the first time in almost 20 years. The retirement of Dr. Charles Stuckey will definitely mark the end of an era in our association. For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Stuckey, which I am sure is not many of you, let me give you a little history lesson. Dr. Stuckey graduated from Southern College of Optometry in 1974. After graduation, he settled in Pennsylvania to begin practicing optometry. He saw patients for a number of years, eventually merging his practice with an ophthalmology practice. He was probably among the first optometrists to partner in a multi-specialty practice and became the managing partner. Throughout this time, he always remained active in organized optometry, from the AOSA as a student to eventually serving as POA President in 1990. 

Then in 1997, the position of executive director of the POA became available. As a result of his astute ability as a leader and advocate, the POA leadership at the time asked him to consider the position. And here we are almost two decades later. 

The reason I describe this as the end of an era is that I don’t believe we will see many optometrists as association executive directors going forward. When Dr. Stuckey took the position, Pennsylvania optometrists only had just progressed past diagnostic privileges. For those younger docs out there, yes, that means we were only able to dilate patients, but not treat any of their ailments with therapeutic medications. Dr. Stuckey ushered us through the legislative and regulatory processes to allow us to use ocular medications for infections and eventually the use of systemic and glaucoma medications. Having an executive director who was in the profession was invaluable when we had to present to legislators why we should be allowed to expand our scope of practice to these new levels. 

As our privileges expanded, we had to work with the medical carriers to have them allow optometrists to join the panels and get reimbursed for the services they were providing. Again, having one of our own guiding the association was a great asset, and with the current legislative climate it will be interesting to see if other associations find former optometrists willing to take on this challenge in the future.

In 2009, Dr. Stuckey received the Virgil Deering Optometric Executive Director of the Year Award for his service to the association, and in 2013, the H. Ward Ewalt Meritorious Service Award for outstanding service to the POA and optometry. Dr. Stuckey also has a strong interest in the third-party arena.  

I want to make sure we take a moment to thank Dr. Stuckey for his many years of service to the POA. Although it is a paid position, he has always gone well beyond the job description for his profession, and I’m not sure we can ever properly compensate him for the “heartburn” he has had to endure over the years. And being the glutton for punishment that he is, I am sure he will continue to serve the association going forward any way he can. Although I am confident that our next executive director, Joseph Ricci, will be a great asset to the POA and bring his own set of unique skills to our association, I’m not sure we will ever again see the pure passion for our profession that Dr. Charles J. Stuckey, Jr. brought to the table. So for that, I thank you, my colleague and my friend....ya know.








Steve Eiss, O.D.

1 comment:

  1. It has been an honor to serve beside Dr. Stuckey on the LAC. His insight into the many aspects of our profession will be truly missed. I wish him well as he moves forward.
    Chuck Falsone

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