What time is it?

Did you know?  The annual 1-800 Contacts marketing spend is $33 million. Venture Capital funding for Opternative/Visibly is $18.3 million. Hubble Contacts is $73.7 million. And Warby Parker is $295 million. Total venture capital funding for these disrupters is $387,000,000.

Everyone wants a piece of what we do for a living. We have to protect it for our patients. It’s time.
I love YouTube. I recently saw a video about army ants and their strength in numbers. Their entire existence depends on their ability to cooperate with one another. A single ant can carry approximately 20 times its weight. An entire colony of ants is very powerful. With their intricate division of labor and communication skills, a colony can defeat extremely large prey in a matter of minutes.

Our profession has so many similarities to the army ants. Optometry is being attacked by large prey and it’s time to show our strength in numbers. The POA’s Board of Directors and committee structure consisting of optometrists volunteer their time and efforts to promote and protect our profession in Pennsylvania. We have a division of labor and communication skills and are facing battles that can affect all of our futures. What we need is strength in numbers if we hope to be victorious.

So how can you as an individual help accomplish our goals? How can you help us achieve success?
New graduates: We understand you have bills and debt to pay back. You can contribute your time. Call the POA office and find out where help is needed. Call and visit your local legislators. Ask your patients to sign a letter supporting our scope modernization and children’s vision bills. Come to Legislative Day in Harrisburg on March 16. Yes, it’s a day out of the office, but its only one day. It will open your eyes to how our bills get passed and how every member’s voice counts.

Established practitioners: Your practice is busy and time away from the office may be difficult. Consider writing a POPAC check so that we can continue to attend legislative events and educate our legislators about optometry. Your practice has benefited from those who helped pass legislation for the therapeutic privileges we currently enjoy. Help pay it forward with a POPAC check. Give as much as you can so the POA has the ongoing ability to educate our legislators about matters of importance to the visual health of Pennsylvanians.

Our Legislative Affairs Committee needs your help. As a group, they have invested days out of the office for meetings, time away from their families for evening conference calls, supported POPAC financially, and met with legislators to get these bills passed. Many have spent years on this committee and they do it all as volunteers. They deserve your support and appreciation.
If you haven’t contributed your time, finances or both, IT’S TIME. We haven’t been this close to passing a bill for many years. Let’s show our strength in numbers.

Call the POA at 717-233-6455. Send a check to “POPAC” at Pennsylvania Optometric Association, 218 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101.

Thank you in advance,

David Evans, O.D.
POA President

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It’s 2020! What comes to mind when you think of 2020? For me, it’s opportunity. Every time someone says 2020, they should think about our profession. This year, we have a great opportunity to grow our practices. We have a tremendous amount of competitors in our industry and they will be using 2020 as a means of growing their businesses; why shouldn’t we?

Every year, March rolls around and only a few of us take advantage of the promotional opportunities that come along with Save Your Vision Month because we haven’t prepared and, before we know it, the month has passed. That’s why I’m proposing we start thinking ahead for a great Save Your Vision Month. The AOA will be promoting awareness around digital eyestrain and the importance of receiving regular, comprehensive eye exams from a doctor of optometry and we should prepare to take advantage of the marketing efforts they put forth. In addition, as a POA member, you have access to Think About Your Eyes at discounted prices (included with Active POA membership) and should recommend the site to your patients as another resource for eye care information.

In the past, the POA has provided annual coloring sheets for members to distribute, but what other things have you done to promote Save Your Vision Month? I suggest having a banner or sign for your office, doing a community screening, or something with your local society. In March, the POA will be joining VSP to provide a community eye exam event in conjunction with Lobby Day in Harrisburg. Please read the update by Executive Director Joseph Ricci on page 4 and join us in this worthwhile event.

Another tool to spread the word of Save Your Vision Month, and optometry in general, is social media. Make sure to Like and Follow the Pennsylvania Optometric Association Facebook page where the POA will be posting eye care articles for you to share in the coming months. Ask your Facebook friends to do the same. Just imagine how many people we could reach. Let’s use social media to benefit our profession this year.

Other means of growing and bettering your practice are included in your POA membership: the Pennsylvania Diabetic Eye Health Alliance (PDEHA) recently started a working relationship with UPMC that will increase the number of patients PDEHA members see in their offices. Similar initiatives with Geisinger, Highmark, and Lehigh Valley Health Network are already in place, and if you’d like to join the PDEHA and the initiatives, email Kelsey@poaeyes.org. More information on the Alliance can be found here: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/doctors/poa-member-resources/pennsylvania-diabetic-eye-health-alliance.

A new group, the Children’s Vision Care Alliance (CVCA), has formed to promote children’s eye exams. To join, a member has to commit to the examination standards of this group when performing an examination on a child. Educational and informational events are being planned for local societies, but find out more here: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/doctors/poa-member-resources/childrens-vision-care-alliance.

The 2020 POA Board of Directors are passionate about making 2020 a year to remember. They are:

President Elect Dr. Edward Savarno, Secretary/Treasurer Dr. Jessie Jones, Trustee Dr. Tracey Sepich, Trustee Dr. Ryan Edmonds, Trustee Dr. James Deom, and Trustee Dr. Jessica Young. Our immediate past president is Dr. Lori Gray.

I look forward to serving as President for 2020 and working with the great group of dedicated professionals to advance our profession. Please join us. Get involved. Together, we can accomplish so much!

David Evans, O.D.
POA President

Dr. Gray thanks you

It’s hard to believe we’ve already made it to the autumn of 2019. At the POA, we are diligently preparing for the planning session at the beginning of November to discuss 2020. Is it just me or does 2020—20/20—feel like our year, Optometry’s year? That’s not to say 2019 has not been fantastic because it has been! I am so proud of the POA and all we have accomplished this year!

I want to take a moment to thank our volunteers. To all of you in our volunteer structure, diligently working for the POA in your spare time, thank you. Whether you serve on one committee or several, it is important work you are doing. Perhaps you attended our Lobby Day in Harrisburg or simply met with your legislators in your home district, thank you. Maybe your volunteer time is spent more on the local society level or the AOA level; we need that too, thank you. And for those of you who understand the value of simply being a member because numbers give us strength, thank you. The POA is a volunteer-based organization that cannot run without our volunteers, but does not exist without our members. It truly takes all of us to keep things going as well as they’ve been; thank you!

As many of you know, this organization also includes several employees who work so hard for our profession, and they deserve some recognition.

To Dr. Charlie Stuckey: we are so happy to have you assisting with the Third Party Center. You bring wisdom and experience that is extremely valuable.

To Danette Swartley: we appreciate all that you have done with membership and you will be missed.

To Joanne Cope, our Claims Administrator: you make a job that stresses and confuses so many of us look easy.

To Jean, our Membership Coordinator: thank you for organizing our members’ dues and more.

To Kelsey, our Communications Coordinator: in a world where so many things are happening at once, you do a fantastic job getting the POA message out in so many different ways.

To Ilene, our Director of Education: you help us host fantastic, organized meetings that run smoothly. You’ve been a part of this organization for decades and you do so much for us.

To Deb, our Chief Operating Officer: we cannot thank you enough for taking care of this tedious task. Your organization is impeccable and you make the job of Board member so much easier while keeping us all in line.

To Joe, our Executive Director: from overseeing the Harrisburg office to propelling this profession forward legislatively, and from coming up with new ways to promote optometry to being there for the daily questions of our members, you somehow manage to be everywhere at once.

We are so lucky as an organization to have these wonderful people working for us and with us. The next time you see one of these folks or call into the POA office and speak to them, please thank them. They deserve to hear from all of us!

I also want to thank the 2019 Board of Directors. It has been one wild year! Thank you for sticking together through the challenging times and for laughing together through the fun times. Your hard work and dedication to this organization are impressive and our profession is lucky to have each of you on its team.

All of these amazing people, our volunteers, our members, our board, and our staff have all helped to make 2019 such a fantastic year. Together, we have been able to accomplish so much. This year, we have worked hard to increase membership, improve communication, and expand our education. We have worked incredibly hard to advance our relationships with our Third Party Center and our Legislative Affairs Committee. From the creation of the Children’s Vision Care Alliance, which promotes the visual welfare of all of the children of the Commonwealth, to the leadership training that will keep us strong as an organization, we have accomplished so much. We currently sit in the middle of a two-year legislative cycle with multiple bills on the table and a keyperson structure that is stronger than it’s been in over a decade. Job well done, POA! And while I love sharing with you what we’ve accomplished together in 2019, I’m even more excited to tell you about 2020.

The AOA has termed 2020 The Year of the Eye Exam. They are working hard to encourage every employer in American to remind their employees of the importance of an annual eye exam and to encourage every person in American to schedule an in-person, comprehensive eye exam with an AOA doctor of optometry. More information is available at https://www.aoa.org/2020. Here in Pennsylvania, we are planning to promote those same ideas. In addition, we are planning a big event in March for Save Your Vision Month. It’s our hope that through this event we will be able to reach many people in need and promote our profession in new ways that haven’t been done before. Watch for more information to be distributed after our planning meeting in November.

As you’ve read, it’s been a busy 2019 and we are positioned well for a fantastic 2020. It’s been an honor serving as your President for 2019. Thank you!

Lori

Communications and the POA

One of the greatest challenges we have as an organization is communication with our members. Pennsylvania is a large state with around 1100 members across multiple generations. Over the years, we have tried various modes of communication. Take the Keystoner as an example; many of you are reading the online version, but some of you are reading the paper version. The fact that you are reading it is fantastic—thank you! In addition to our newsletter, we also have many other sources for you to receive information and updates from us at the POA. Of course, there is our website, www.poaeyes.org. I often use our website to reference many types of information including legislative information and upcoming events. We have many other tried and true forms of communication like our four Board of Directors meetings per year, our annual House of Delegates meeting at our Spring Congress, our local society meetings and more.


On Facebook, we have the official POA page, where announcements come from the staff regarding meetings and more—it’s a great place to find photos from our recent events! “POA ODs on Facebook” is our newest venue of communication, created for POA doctors to discuss things amongst each other. This replaces the older Listserv email chain. All of our members are welcomed and encouraged to join! We also have a Twitter account, www.twitter.com/poaeyes, and Instagram account, www.instagram.com/poaeyes. Additionally, we email our members regularly and, as of 2019, we are proud to have a texting system in place! To receive POA texts, pick up your phone right now and text “POA” to 77222.


As many of you are aware, we have a Communications Committee in our Table of Organization structure. This committee has been a pillar of our organizational structure for decades. Our current Committee is chaired by Dr. Jessica Young. The number one priority of the Committee for the current strategic plan is to more fully utilize technology to strengthen internal and external communication. They have been doing a fantastic job! It was thanks to their hard work and efforts that we now have that texting program. The Communications Committee works closely with many of our other committees to ensure the necessary information is getting out to our members. Great job, Communications Committee!


You may not be aware, but in 2018, we created the Local Society Leadership Committee to enhance the flow of communication between our local societies and our Board of Directors. This active committee is chaired by Dr. David Wagner and made of our local society presidents. They have been doing a great job since they started last year. Often when they meet, they have a representative from another committee sharing information too. This type of cross-communication helps ensure a better understanding of what is happening throughout the POA instead of everyone working in their own ‘silo.’  I was especially impressed with the time and effort this committee put in, along with our Legislative Affairs Committee, to generate interest and attendance for our Lobby Day. Currently, they are working on a statewide rollout for the CVCA, Children’s Vision Care Alliance. For more information on that alliance, visit https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/doctors/poa-member-resources/childrens-vision-care-alliance. Keep up the excellent work, Local Society Leadership Committee!


These two committees, the Communications Committee and the Local Society Leadership Committee, make up the Communications Division within our Table of Organization. Kelsey Rodkey, the staff liaison for this division, has been a valued member of the POA staff for over five years now—thank you, Kelsey! Kelsey is very accessible to our members and is always willing to help out and assist with our Board, committees, and members’ needs. You can reach Kelsey by calling the POA office at (717) 233-6455 or emailing Kelsey@POAeyes.org.


In this editorial, I have referenced our Table of Organization several times. To access it, visit https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/about/poa-committee-and-local-society-structures. I urge you to take a look. The number of member volunteers we have is inspiring! If you are interested in becoming a part of our Table of Organization or in getting involved in a new area, please email me at DrGray@MyCompleteEyecare.com and let me know. I would also be interested in hearing your ideas on communication. How can we improve communication with our members? I really do hope to hear from you.




Lori Gray, O.D.
POA President

Introducing the CVCA

At the POA’s House of Delegates meeting on May 17, 2019, we officially instituted an exciting and resource-rich program: the Children’s Vision Care Alliance (CVCA), a program that will enhance children’s vision care and assure that our children are getting the services they need to thrive and succeed. The POA has been supporting children’s vision for decades. In 2001, we created the Kids Welcome Here® (KWH) program. The KWH program is a multi-pronged education campaign designed to educate the public about the importance of comprehensive vision care for children. The essentials of the KWH are as follows:

·         Educational materials for parents and those who care for children;

·         Posters and flyers highlighting the importance of regular eye exams for kids;

·         Continuing education in pediatric vision care for optometrists;

·         Consultation with the PA DOH to revise vision screening protocols;

·         Education for school nurses on proper vision screening techniques; and

·         Education program for nurses and teachers about the link between vision and learning.

This program was so successful the POA licensed it to other state associations! This is also a good reminder that these materials are still available to our members—request a free poster and brochures by calling (717) 233-6455 or emailing Kelsey Rodkey, the POA’s Communications Coordinator, at Kelsey@poaeyes.org.

In 2004, the national InfantSEE® program was added to our KWH campaign. InfantSEE® is a public health initiative of the American Optometric Association designed to offer a one-time free eye and vision assessment to infants under the age of one year. Over four hundred and fifty Pennsylvania optometrists across the state have volunteered to provide this public health service. These programs are incredible and they continue to be relevant and important. However, the children of the Commonwealth need more. Current vision screening programs are not adequate. Here are some facts that I feel are important to share:

·         The American Academy of Ophthalmology found between 40-67 percent of children with failed screenings do not get the necessary follow-up care.

·         National Eye Institute study of Vision in Preschoolers found that even the most highly trained screeners using the best equipment missed 33% of children with an eye or vision problem

·         Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, in 2002, noted that 79% of children had not seen an eye care provider in the past year.

·         Of children aged 3-5 seen by a pediatrician, only 66% received a vision screening (defined as spending 10 or more seconds trying to get the child’s cooperation).

·         One third of children with a late diagnosis of amblyopia had undergone a screening as a preschooler.

·         The Journal of the American Public Health Association notes: 10% of preschoolers have vision deficiencies (Pennsylvania has 75,200 students in preschool). 25% of children in grades K-6 have vision deficiencies (Pennsylvania has 318,000 students in grades K-6).

·         We know the prevalence of vision deficiencies increases for children at risk or classified as special needs.

·         60% of “problem learners” have undetected or untreated vision problems. The NJ Commission on Business Efficiency of the Public Schools found children with reading difficulties fall into two categories of visual problems: untreated or undiagnosed.

·         Current Ophthalmology reports that vision disorders are the fourth most common disability in the U.S. and the most prevalent handicapping condition in children.

·         Untreated visual deficiencies result in a 12% reduction in wages.

You can clearly see from all of this data something had to be done. The obvious answer to addressing these significant problems with undetected vision deficiencies is conducting a proper comprehensive eye examination on every one of our children. Experience has shown that education alone is not sufficient to correct the problem. The best solution is a system that encourages regular, comprehensive eye examinations for all of our children. Our next step as we work towards achieving these goals is to create a new coalition that will work with our existing programs and go further for the visual wellbeing of our children. This is how the idea for the CVCA came to be. The mission of the CVCA is to establish a network of Pennsylvania optometrists who agree to provide exemplary vision and eye care to children by following the American Optometric Association’s Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, promoting children’s vision, and networking with schools and other professionals to improve the quality of children’s vision, thereby improving a child’s chances for success in life. We are currently working to add CVCA members. If you are already a member, thank you! If you are not, please consider joining this important cause. It is simple to become a member of the CVCA, all you have to do is complete the agreement found here: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/Documents/PA/CVCA-LetterofAgreement.pdf and send it to the POA (fax: 717-233-6833, mail: POA, 218 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101, email: Kelsey@poaeyes.org).

I couldn’t be prouder of the POA and our hard-working members than I am right now. This program is a great example of the good we can do when we all work together for the welfare of our patients. Special thank you to Dr. Ed Savarno (WPOS), Dr. Tracy Sepich (MCOS), Dr. Perry Umlauf (BCOS), Dr. Dave Wagner (NWOS), and the many other doctors who worked so hard to turn this important idea into the CVCA. These doctors in conjunction with our Advocacy Division, our Board of Directors, and our staff are currently working with Pennsylvania legislators to create a Children’s Vision Bill. I look forward to seeing what is next to come!

Lori Gray, O.D.

POA President

Advocacy and the POA

Over the past few weeks, I have been so impressed with POA doctors! On March 25th, more than 80 doctors and students attended the POA Lobby Day in Harrisburg. These volunteers met with legislators to discuss the bills that are so important to Pennsylvania optometrists and our patients. This day came together with the help of so many people and, while I can’t name everyone, there are a few people I want to recognize: our Legislative Affairs Committee and its chair, Dr. Rich Christoph, and especially Dr. Perry Umlauf. The day was made successful with tremendous support from POA Executive Director Joe Ricci and our awesome POA staff. Dr. Linda Casser, our State and National Education Chair, and her team designed the necessary handouts and training material for our doctors. Everyone worked together with our fantastic local society presidents to organize the volunteer doctors and students. Salus University and, in particular, Drs. Mike Mittelman and Melissa Trego were very supportive; they even rented a bus to bring the students to the capitol! So many other people were involved to make this day a success including our lobby teams, our board and, most importantly, the volunteer doctors and students who took the time away for their offices, school, and their families to come to Harrisburg to represent us. Thank you very much, everyone! This day was extremely well coordinated; we had over 25 meetings with our legislators. In addition, many other meetings have taken place in our local districts both before and after Lobby Day. 

In early April, a dozen Pennsylvania doctors gathered in Washington, D.C. for three days to represent our state at AOA on Capitol Hill 2019. In total, there were over 600 doctors and students present at this meeting! I would like to thank our Pennsylvania delegation for their time and effort. We had many meetings with our Senators and Representatives in D.C. and numerous meetings occurred both before and since then in our local districts. During our time in D.C., Pennsylvania was proud to have one of our own legislators, Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, win the AOA Healthcare Leadership Award, which was presented to him by his keyperson and long-time POA member, Dr. Bob Bittel.
Photos from both of these events can be seen in this issue of the Keystoner. More are available on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

As you read this, I hope you are as proud of our POA volunteers and staff as I am. If you are reading this and inspired to help, there are several opportunities. Please consider serving as a keyperson to your state and/or national legislators. This is easier than it sounds; all of the information you will need can be found on our website under the Advocacy tab. Dr. James Deom is the chair of our Keyperson Committee and he and his committee would be happy to help you. Another way we could use help from everyone is by donating to our PAC (Political Action Committee) on the state and national levels. Contribution forms are available at http://pennsylvania.aoa.org/documents/PA/POA-POPAC-pledge-form.pdf. Dr. Greg Caldwell, the chair of the POPAC Committee, would also be happy to assist you. 

Protecting our profession and ensuring we move forward is an immense responsibility and we need everyone’s help!

Lori Gray, O.D.
POA President

Save Your Vision Month and more

As you all know, March is Save Your Vision Month. This is a great opportunity for all of us to reach out to our communities and bring awareness to vision, eye health, eye safety, and more. The optometric profession comes in many different forms. Some of us work in patient care, others are educators or working in the industry. No matter where our optometric careers have taken us, the one thing we all have in common is that we are out in our communities helping people. We help people see better, we help people figure out what is wrong and how to best handle the situation, we help people learn and understand, and we help people heal. Today, I write asking you to help one more cause: our profession.

Our profession needs your help. We need your help legislatively, financially, and, most importantly, we need your time. We are currently working on several legislative initiatives including scope modification and children’s vision legislation. The help we are asking for can come in many different formats. First, we need doctors and students at Lobby Day. This is our opportunity to make a statement to our legislators. It is our biggest opportunity to educate them on our remarkable profession and the value we bring to our patients and our communities. For many of us, time is our most valuable asset. I am hoping you can give some time to our profession on March 25th at Lobby Day in Harrisburg. You can sign-up to attend here: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/education-and-events/march-2019-x26597.

As we work towards our legislative goals, we also need your help financially. POPAC donations make a difference and every little bit helps. Because of your contributions, during 2018, we were able to attend 185 legislative breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and events. POPAC giving allowed us to support 76 Representatives, 38 Senators, six candidates, and six political action committees of the House and Senate. Each of these contacts was another opportunity to tell Optometry’s story. Many of our members give monthly donations on their credit card and this is extremely helpful. It allows us to anticipate our POPAC budget and plan for the most effective ways to use these funds. I ask each of you to please consider monthly contributions to POPAC. It really is simple; all you have to do is fill out this form: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/documents/PA/POA-POPAC-pledge-form.pdf. For those of you who are already donating monthly, thank you!

My final ask of you today is for your help promoting optometry in your community. For example, one of our local societies has held a community awareness program every year from 1979 to 2017. Each year, the Anthracite Optometric Society arranged a massive 16-school, 2000-child program, the Save Your Vision Project. The second-grade students from each of these schools would participate in a coloring contest and winners were chosen from each individual classroom with an overall winner being selected from each school. The winners from each school would then gather at an awards ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments and receive their awards over lunch with the Project’s mascot, Seymour Safely. The children loved this special event and it brought great awareness to vision and eye safety. The local newspapers would cover the event, further promoting its importance. I would like to take a moment here to thank the tremendous efforts of the Anthracite Optometric Society, Dr. Gary Scheib, Dr. Shannon Scheuren, and everyone who made this event possible. Unfortunately, due to time and budgetary constraints within the local society, this program was not able to be held the last two years. I wanted to write about this fantastic project today to point out what a difference even one small group can make. I would like to see us all work together on projects that promote our goals, bring awareness to our communities, and have some fun in the process.

Many of our other local societies participate in important community events, also. My goal today is not to promote a specific event or project, but ask you simply to participate. These projects may be major events like Anthracite’s Save Your Vision Project or they may be smaller events like speaking to local groups or writing a public education article for your local newspaper. The POA would like to assist you with this endeavor. Our Clinical Care Committee is currently working on writing white papers to bring awareness to important vision and eye health concerns. In past years, member advocates for children’s vision created a presentation that is available for our doctors to present to school nurses around the commonwealth. These are just a few examples. If you have other ideas, I would love to hear them. Please consider donating your time to help our profession and our communities!

Thank you!

Lori Gray, O.D.
POA President