October 16: Optometry at the Capitol Day

In my last editorial, I promised more information about your opportunity to advocate for your profession. Thanks to the hard work of the POA Legislative Affairs Committee, staff, lobbyists, and Board of Directors, we bring to you Optometry at the Capitol Day on October 16, 2017! We are hoping to see hundreds of POA optometrists and Salus students rush the Harrisburg Capitol Complex to promote optometry and the ocular health of Pennsylvania’s residents. Believe me when I say that your volunteer leadership, staff, and lobbyists have been banging optometry’s drum since the beginning of this legislative session. Regardless, it is vital for the legislators to hear from the rank and file optometrists about how the pending legislation helps not only their constituent optometrists, but also their constituents that are patients in our practices.

We have created a program chocked full of information to educate you on the legislative initiatives that relate to optometry. You will hear from legislators about the value of advocacy and what they want to hear from you. You will hear from the legislators who introduced the bills and why they feel they are important for Pennsylvania’s residents. We have members from the AOA and the POA Advocacy teams to help train you on how to intelligently communicate with your legislators. All of this leads up to the opportunity to meet with your legislators and discuss these important bills.

Now when you get out your calendar to mark down the date, you’re going to realize that October 16 is a Monday, and for most of us Monday is a busy patient day. So now the question comes, how can I afford to take a day off for this? Well, the answer is you really can’t afford not to. Our profession is a legislated profession. No matter what your training is in optometry school, if your state law doesn’t say you can do it, you can’t do it. It is essential that we promote these bills that allow us to practice to the level of our training and be able to provide the best level of care to our patients. Please, please help contribute to this process. Take the day off, allow your associate doctors to take the day off, and travel to Harrisburg to advocate for your profession. Come spend the day with your colleagues and reconnect with your friends. Make some new friends! Think of this as an investment in your professional future. Don’t worry, your patients will be there on Tuesday. I’m sure each and every one of you can think of a day you took off to play a terrible round of golf, or sit through a terribly boring CE class, or to catch up on yard work. Well, let me tell you that this will be a much more rewarding experience, and you will find yourself looking forward to the next opportunity to advocate again. So, I expect to see each and every one of you on October 16th in Harrisburg.








Steven Eiss, O.D.