Emory Eye Center Opens Newly Enlarged Vision Care Services in Clinic B

Emory University
Thursday, 24 June 2004

Emory Eye Center will enlarge its Vision Care Services in July when it opens a newly created clinic for vision care, low vision help, and a new state-of-the-art optical shop. Housed on the first floor of The Emory Clinic, B Building, more than 4,300 square feet of new space will allow Emory Eye Center's optometrists and opticians the ability to serve patients more easily and more conveniently. Previously, these services were housed on the fifth floor of the clinic, where Emory Eye Center's Comprehensive and Specialty Contact Lens sections remain.

For those needing routine "healthy eye" exams, prescriptions for eye glasses or contact lenses and other basic services, the new location will be a welcome addition for Emory Eye Center staff and patients alike. Its high visibility-right off the atrium of Clinic B's first floor-will help Emory employees realize that superior vision care is right on campus. A beautiful new Optical Shop featuring the most current fashion eyewear and high quality lens selections will allow customers to conveniently browse the numerous frames and other eyewear available at the shop.

Additionally, there will be a new Vision Rehabilitation or Low Vision clinic where those who are visually impaired and who require special assistance will be served. Low vision is defined as a condition in which even with regular glasses or contact lenses, medicine or surgery, people find everyday tasks requiring vision difficult. The new space will have two low vision exam rooms and two training rooms to help patients learn to use low vision devices.

"We are thrilled to be able to serve our patients and customers with a spacious new facility," says Susan Primo, OD, MPH, director of Emory Eye Center's Vision Care Services. "In addition to serving our basic patients better than ever, the additional rooms will allow us to serve our low vision patients in a space designed just for them."

"There isn't a universal knowledge of the resources of Emory Eye Center in our Emory community," says Kristin Conklin, Emory Eye Center clinic administrator. "Our Vision Care Services combine highly trained optometrists and expert opticians who provide quality eye exams, eye glasses and contact lenses that go a step beyond what one gets on the outside. We are cost-competitive within the general community, while offering superior treatment. At Emory Eye Center we are aware of the latest research and product offerings and can take the time to suggest what would be best for each individual patient," she adds.

Ninety per cent of the eye glasses at Emory are ground in-house, which provides quality control over the product. "We are proud to offer our patients and customers the highest quality of spectacles and lenses, tailored to their individual needs," says Richard Jefferson, LDO of Emory Eye Center's Optical Shop. "Because we do virtually all the work here, we can assure the quality of each set of glasses for our customers."

"It is always exciting to see our center grow, and this new location for our Vision Care services will allow us to more completely offer our basic services to a wide array of patients and customers," says Thomas Aaberg, Sr., director of Emory Eye Center. "Our four excellent optometrists and three opticians can now provide the highest standard of service with the most comfortable, state-of-the-art space," he adds. "Many don't know this, but our Comprehensive eye services came out of a mandate by then clinic director Garland Perdue in the early '90s. Because of his vision, we can now offer these basic services to thousands of Emory staff members, right in their own workplace."

For more information, or to contact Emory University, see their website at: whsc.emory.edu