Day in the Life of an Optician

We received the following email from the Opticians Association of America. We thought we would share.

Vision Monday is seeing how vast and manifold the optical industry is every single day. For their Sept. 1st issue, they would like to show their readers just how diverse and vibrant this industry is by asking different segments to document different parts of their day.

What does your company do each day that is interesting or particularly representative of your field? They are asking you to photograph and log at least 4-6 moments over the course of the next two weeks that you feel best represent or characterize what some of the various departments of your company do.

From the mundane to the outrageous they want to see it all. They've asked folks from all over the industry to do the same and they will plot them all out in the September issue in order to share with you all just how great and multifaceted the optical industry in the United States is.

They are offering the option of providing you with a disposable camera and printed worksheets to record the moments (as well as a self-addressed and stamped return envelope). You are of course also welcome to use your own digital camera and email them the images, as well as the completed worksheet, if that makes you more comfortable.

They are expecting a lot of amazing pictures, so they ask that you please email your worksheet and images back to John Sailer (Senior Editor, Vision Monday) at jsailer@jobson.com (or return your worksheet and camera that will be included in the envelope) by July 25th.

Please let them know which you would prefer (and provide a mailing address if you'd like the camera) so they can get you everything you need ASAP!

Click Here for the "A Day in the Life" Worksheet.  Have Fun!!!

The Making of Norman Childs--An Optician

"So, in 1979, after being turned down for a bank loan, but armed with seven credit cards, Childs opened up his own shop on lower Murray Avenue, dubbing the store 'Eyetique,' a named coined by his grandmother." This is part of the story about Norman Childs, an opitician, which recently appeared in The Jewish Chronicle. "The business took off in 1986, he said, when, after sheer persistence, he was able to convince Oliver Peoples...to allow him to be its first and exclusive distributor....Now 35 years later, Childs has 16 stores — including three under the name 3 Guys Optical, which features overruns sold at deep discounts — and his own line of 'Norman Childs' eyewear." Read more.

Canadian Opticians Promoting Opticianry

“For the past two years, the Opticians Council of Canada (OCC) has implemented an annual national campaign educating the public on the importance of always asking for an optician for their vision care needs”,” goes the release from the Optician Council of Canada (OCC). “This year, Opticians Council of Canada will launch the third annual ‘Love Your Eyes’ campaign, which will take form in an online educational multimedia contest. Five weeks before World Sight Day on October 9th, the campaign will launch, and OCC is inviting opticians across Canada to get involved.” Read more.

Optician Designs Own Eyewear

"In her Gastown glasses shop, Sara Moshurchak’s eyes dance behind chic, slightly pointy cat-eye frames," reports the Vancouver Sun. "The custom frame maker gets so animated when talking about glasses that her eyes flit from one pair of frames to another in her tastefully appointed store....To Moshurchak, glasses aren’t just glasses. They are a fashion statement and the first thing you see on a person’s face when you greet them. Think of Johnny Depp and his iconic eyeglasses....She is unusual not only in that she doesn’t fit the mould in appearance but also for what she does. As far as she knows, she is the only person in Canada who offers completely handmade eye glass frames from start to finish and only one of two women in the world who offer such finery, the other one being in Paris. "It’s a dying art,' she laments, adding the ability to hand-produce quality goods needs to be passed on from generation to generation." Read more.

Optician Launches Eyewear Line Called Kite

“Launched by Asad Hamir, the 28^th person in his family to become an optician (so he really knows his stuff), Kite was conceived as a ‘British brand with an international attitude.’ In practice, this means that the best bits of the eyewear industry from around Europe are utilized here – lenses from Germany, frames from Italy and design is 00% London-based,” notes Elle UK. “There are a couple of out-there shapes and shades, but Kite is more about the low-key and wearable – the round tortoiseshell Charlotte and slightly cat-eyed black-rimmed Broadway styles were favourites.” Read more.

OAA Goes All Hollywood

The 2014 Opticians Association Video Contest begins April 17 and will end on June 30. "Directors" should aim their videos at the America public, showing them an optician. The OAA hopes that it will have one or several videos promoting opticianry to the general public. You can pick up information about entering and the rules for the contest at this website. The OAA will award $3500 for first place, $2000 for second, and $1000 for third. Read more.

ABO/NCLE Ends Grace Period for Certification

ABO/NCLE has ended its grace period for opticians who wish to remain ABO and/or NCLE certified. Here's a copy of the notice that has been emailed to opticians.

This notice is to advise you that your ABO and/or NCLE certification is going to expire on 12/31/2013.  This is the absolute last date for you to complete all of your credits and your payment due for re-certification and to submit documentation showing proof of completion of the required number of CECs.  There is no 4th year, suspension year, late fee period, or grace period [the blog's emphasis].  If you do not submit your appropriate credits and payment(s) due by 12/31/2013, your certification will expire, and you will be required to re-take the examination(s) in order to become ABO and/or NCLE Certified again.  There are no exceptions [ABO/NCLE emphasis].

To renew your certification through 12/31/2016, you must:

1.) Complete the required number of hours of continuing education on or before December 31, 2013. ABO Certified: 12 ABO approved CECs (up to 3 may be NCLE approved). NCLE Certified: 18 NCLE approved CECs (up to 6 may be ABO approved). ABO & NCLE Certified: 21 CECs total (9 ABO approved and 12 NCLE approved).

2.)  Submit your CECs or proof of current state licensed (only if your state requires continuing education to renew) by December 31, 2013.  The ABO renewal fee is $85.  The NCLE renewal fee is $85.

You worked hard to earn your certification, don't let it slip away!

Canadian Optician Allegedly Fleeces Benefits Plan

"A defunct Ontario eyewear store linked to a businessman who was jailed for a year and fined millions of dollars for contempt is facing allegations it fleeced the aboriginal health-benefits plan, a newly released document shows." That's the lede of a Yahoo! News Canada post. Read more.

Washignton State Sues Optician

"The federal Medicaid program allowed health care providers to charge a fee of $20 to repair broken eye glasses," reports KING5 News. "Some eye doctors provide that kind of service for free.  Other eye care providers occasionally bill the federal Medicaid program for the $20 repair fee.
But Rev. Harriett Walden turned it into a one-woman industry. The Seattle optician earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid eye glass repair fees over the course of three years - the top biller in the state." Read more.

Co-Owner of Mass. Optical Shop Pays Off Mortgage with Pennies

Good Morning America reported the following:

A Milford, Mass., man saved his pennies to pay off his mortgage--literally. He carted more than 62,000 pennies to the bank to make his last payment. 'Thirty-five years ago when my wife and I took out our mortgage for our first home I happened to pick up a penny in a parking lot,' Thomas Daigle told ABC News. 'I said, "I'm going to pay our last mortgage in pennies."' And, that's exactly he did. In all, that's about 427 pounds of pennies at 145 pennies to the pound, though pennies minted after 1982 weigh in at 181 to the pound. Daigle says he didn't weigh them.

Read more.

Optician Goes High End with Vintage--Real Vintage

Van de la Plante in his vintage optical shop.

"Thirty-four-year-old Van de la Plante looks every bit the gentleman," notes the Los Angeles Times. "Sporting a beige linen resort suit, a green Cuban guayabera cigar shirt and Cole Haan huarache sandals, De la Plante fits in well as owner of Gentlemen's Breakfast, a new boutique in Laguna Beach that sells antique eyeglasses, sunglasses and accessories. The small shop, splattered in bitter chocolate and beige tones, is decorated with manly finds and furnishings. Antique crystal decanters sit on an old desk, filled with Scotch and ready for the pour. A vintage bourbon flask hides a 1909 candlestick phone. It's reserved for those who spend enough money, according to De la Plante, who declined to say just how much is enough. A feather pen with ink jar caps off that rich, old-world look." Read more.

Optician Arrested for Examing Eyes and Writing Scripts

NBC Bay Area reports that "a 73-year-old San Francisco man was arrested on a warrant this week after prosecutors discovered that he was giving eye examinations and doling out prescriptions out of San Jose without a required license. Valery Dobrushin was arrested Wednesday, and subsequently charged with five felonies involving insurance fraud and two misdemeanors involving prescribing eyeglasses and giving eye exams without a license. Prosecutors say he operated out of small eye care store in San Jose. His alleged actions caused an estimated loss exceeding $11,300 to five health insurance carriers." Read more.

Optician Wins Writing Award

"Optician Lori Braverman of Family Eye Health & Contact Lens Center received recognition recently for writing the winning entry in a national essay contest sponsored in part by Optical Vision Resources," reports the Sun Journal. "The recognition occurred at the [last week's] International Vision Expo East...The contest asked participants to write about a past Vision Expo experience. The essay by Braverman, who has attended the annual event 13 years, chronicled her work helping a local client who was recovering from an accident that drastically impaired her vision and facial features." Read more.

Optician Remembers Whitney Houston

"Suresight Eyecare Office Manager Tim Blanchard remembers the first time he met Whitney Houston," says North Fulton. "He had been working as general manager at the now-defunct Pearl Vision on Medlock Bridge Road in Johns Creek in 2002. He had been there for three to four months when Houston, who lived in the County Club of the South at the time, came into the store." Read more.

Optician Tries to Set Up Hit on Wife

Son crying at trail

"When Mike Yuchnitz approached an employee at his discount eyewear store who had been illegally supplying him with the sedative Ambien and said he wanted to have his wife killed, he said their son was in on it, too, the employee told jurors Friday," reports the San Antonion Express-News. "Fidel Pantoja opted to recruit San Antonio police instead of a hit man, and later wore a secret recording device to help detectives build a murder-for-hire case against his boss, according to testimony in Yuchnitz's high-profile divorce trial." Read more.

Optician's Son Wins Bout in England

Matthew Lombardi landing punch

Proud father and optician Frank Lombardi writes: "Frank Lombardi and his son Matthew recently returned from Portsmouth England, where Matthew represented the USA in the first international collegiate boxing show. Matthew won his bout by unanimous decision over a boxer from the English Royal Navy. ...They hope this win will give Matthew good momentum as he continues his season and looks forward to regionals in March."

Canadian Optician Writes Large Check to Ronald

"There's another big donation for Ronald McDonald House in St. John's {Newfoundland],:" according to a post on VOCM. "Republic Eyewear made a presentation of $7,360 by donating five dollars from the sale of every frame sold in 2011. Co-owner Frank Molloy made the presentation yesterday along with his daughter Laura. Molloy has stayed at Ronald McDonald houses in both Halifax and Toronto while Laura underwent surgery on her heart." Read more.

London Optician Rebuilds after the Riots

"Margaret Asare, whose opticians Eyelondon in Mare Street, Hackney, was ransacked, has been given £2,000 from the multi-million-pound High Street Fund, which offers immediate cash support to small and medium-sized businesses affected by the riots," according to a post on the LondonEveningStandard. Read more.

Local Optician Profiled

Thurman works with patient

"When she was 10 years old, MaryElaine Thurman was told she needed glasses. She got them — and proceeded to continuously lose them through her teens." It's the beginning of a story of MaryElaine Thurman as an optician that appeared recently in the PhillyBurbs. Read more.

Chains Claim "Which?" Optician Study Inaccurate

"Optical chains have reacted to last week's critical report of the profession by consumer watchdog Which? - claiming it did not represent a large enough sample of stores," reports OpticianOnline. "The Which? investigation's worst performing chain, Optical Express, insisted it offered 'an excellent standard of patient care'. Two Optical Express practices were rated as 'very poor' by Which? mystery shoppers, while another was rated as 'poor'."  Read more.