Tag: ZONE-RO-FEATURED-STORIES-WO

When Lindsay Loock, OD, purchased her practice in 2008, she knew that its existing space would work temporarily.

By Crystal M. Brimer, OD, FAAO—In 2015, I scouted out the perfect practice location for Focus Eye Care in Wilmington, North Carolina. While Wilmington is a young, vibrant town full of beach tourists, it is also home to a lot of retirees, so there is great diversity.

It’s been 16 years since Avani Patel, OD, FAAO, completed a successful buyout. She moved the business across town in 2008 to its current location, which she recently renovated.

In 2012, after four years practicing inside the Bloomington, Indiana, Sam’s Club, Diana Christensen, OD, says that she was excited to hear that her office area would undergo a renovation.

For most of its 41-year-old history, the practice now known as Sisson-Boyer Eyecare was in an office in the home of W. Reynolds Sisson, OD, FAAO, in Newport, Pennsylvania. Recently, the practice moved into a much larger, multispecialty medical facility.

Kathryn Collins, OD, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, read about an interesting case that a fellow OD posted on the social media forum ODs on Facebook. The patient in the case had been in a car accident, and despite working with neurologists, physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs), her progress had stalled because she couldn’t see well. Dr. Collins reached out to the colleague, Margaret Shirk, OD, also from Pennsylvania. Dr. Collins sent Dr. Shirk a validated questionnaire for the patient, which could help them determine if the patient could benefit from the neurovisual optometry services she offers.

By Alicia Telega, OD—As I moved from Virginia to Pittsburgh, I was planning the cold start of my practice, Shadyside eye Associates. I had considered purchasing a practice or becoming a partner, but I discovered the best financial decision was to start from scratch to make the business my own. I was up and running for $230,000—half of the price that many doctors were asking for existing businesses that needed lots of TLC and updating and did not include the sale of the building. You can do it right, and you don’t have to cut corners.

Rosalyn Coleman, OD, found herself in a variety of practice settings in the five years since her 2010 graduation from Southern College of Optometry (SCO), and each experience took her a step closer to starting her own practice. While that wasn’t her original intention coming out school—she thought she might teach at an optometry school—Dr. Coleman ultimately came home to Atlanta to open Envision Therapy, her vision therapy office.

Ever since Debby Feinberg, OD, started specializing in neurovisual optometry, she’s received questions and inquiries from prospective patients.

The Bartlesville, Oklahoma, practice that Emily Bussey, OD, purchased in 2010 came with some serious constraints. Even at 1,600 square feet, the practice design was not set up for the busy practice she envisioned.