Board Certification--A Lesson in Staying Connected

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

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

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

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!

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

From South Philly to the Cherry Tree Massacre

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

Board of Trustees The Optometric Center or New York

Vice-President Hoya Hoop Club

Board of Governors Georgetown University
Proud Member of Generation Ewing

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

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