BLOG: Who inspires you?

ByScott A. Edmonds, OD, FAAO

I have a tendency to be influenced by the people that I meet and talk with. I often find the stories of the events and happenings of other people’s lives at least interesting and many times fascinating. I believe that this is one of the reasons that I love optometry. We are truly in the “people” business.

But beyond patient care, optometry has many other opportunities to meet other people and learn new things. From organized optometry meetings, like the local society, state associations and the American Optometric Association, to optometric education and the American Academy of Optometry, there are many opportunities to interface with other people, see other viewpoints and expand your horizons.

Throughout my career, I have many opportunities to meet some remarkable people. Some are just great fun to spend time with, some are fun to engage in debates and arguments with, and some are just flat-out inspiriting to listen to and learn from. It is these people that I want to address in this blog post. Some are no longer with us, some are retired, some are my contemporaries and many are younger. If you read this, you will probably know who you are.

I have had the unique opportunity to experience optometry on several levels. First as a clinician, second as an educator and third as a health care consultant. Each of these roles has brought me in contact with inspirational people. My practice has always been geared to specialty care with work in low vision, complex contact lenses and recently traumatic brain injury. This aspect of care has exposed me to people who have faced adversity, struggled for a time and then found a way to rise above it. Many of these patients have taught me creative ways to solve problems and reach goals.

In my work in education, I have many opportunities to meet young people brimming with new knowledge, extremely enthusiastic about the future and eager to get out there and save the world. I have seen some of these young people absorb the techniques and strategies that our clinical group has developed and instantly apply this to their next patient encounter.

I have had the privilege of serving on the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education, where I was not only inspired by the staff and fellow council members but by many of the leaders in the schools and colleges of optometry. Spending much of my time with the accreditation of the optometric residency program, I was often inspired by the dedicated faculty and young residents in these programs. These are people who never settle for mediocrity in our profession but strive for excellence on a daily basis. It is in watching and learning from these people that I gather much of the knowledge and experience that I use in my health care consulting work. I have seen many of these programs integrate optometry into mainstream medical care, and I use these examples as models for effective health care delivery.

In my health care consulting work, I interface with many people outside of optometry who have inspired me. These include some in other clinical health care disciplines but also many who are involved in the complex administration of health care. Health care providers seldom realize the tremendous volume of work required to organize the health delivery and payment programs. We love to criticize health care insurance and managed care plans but fail to realize that much of the care that we provide would be well beyond our patient’s ability to pay for these services with out-of-pocket funds.

So, the thought for today is to value the people with whom you interface. You have the opportunity to inspire others with your actions, your attitudes and your words. It is not just young people who are inspired, anyone and everyone can experience this wonderful feeling. My family and friends inspire me on a regular basis. By the same token, listen to the thoughts and opinions of others. Perhaps it is you who will be inspired!