First optometry clinic takes care of ‘eyes’ in mission

Published Oct. 18, 2008
By Senior Airman Clinton Atkins
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- "You can't maintain readiness without vision," said Lt. Col. Randall Collins, 379th Expeditionary Medical Group optometrist and Aeromedical/Dental Flight commander. "The number one reason why people fail physicals, especially in the flying community, is vision standards. You can't shoot them if you can't see them."

The first enduring optometry clinic in the Southwest Asia expeditionary arena provides eye care for more than 8,000 U.S. and Coalition servicemembers. The 379 EMDG Optometry Clinic opened shop here Sept. 14. Their main focus is mission readiness.

"As more people have longer assignments here, six months or a year, and when we get more (U.S. and Coalition servicemembers) here, there's going to be more need for routine care," said Colonel Collins. "We are here to lay the ground work of the full functions of an optometry clinic."

The main concerns right now are eye infections, injuries and diseases that need medical management, he said.

"The desert environment has lots of dirt and dust, which can cause superficial injuries to the eyes," the Lake-view, Ore., native said.

Of the services available at optometry clinics at our home bases, the only one this clinic doesn't provide is contact lens service.

Currently, permanent party members and those on long deployments will benefit most with the addition of the new clinic.

"Everyone deployed a year or longer is going to need a physical health assessment," he said. "Those who fail their vision test are going to need an update on their glasses and gas mask inserts."

Before the clinic opened, servicemembers with urgent eye care needs would have to go downtown for eye care, he said. Already, the benefits of in-house eye care are being noticed.

"We've been able to prevent the referral of a number of cases that would have had to go downtown or be evacuated to Germany for eye care," Colonel Collins said. "Still, there are cases that will need to be evacuated when the need for cornea or retina specialists arises."

For the 379 EMDG, the addition of the optometry clinic is one more step closer to being a full-service medical treatment facility.

"We should be able to effectively end the need for sending any case for eye care off base," he said. "And for individuals struggling with vision, even if it's not an emergency, come on in. We have appointments available.

"By keeping the patient here for eye care and with access to ultrasound, X-ray and computer assisted tomography scan capabilities we can keep all of those costs in-house," Colonel Collins said. "The Air Force can potentially save thousands of dollars on some individual cases by in-sourcing nearly all eye care."

Even though the optometry clinic is in a deployed location, it does have an advantage over home station clinics. Upon arrival, Staff Sgt. Jacques English, clinic noncommissioned officer in charge, exercised some ingenuity.

"Sergeant English quickly set up supply routes to get all of the glasses and gas mask inserts by setting up an account through ," Colonel Collins said. "We have to get glasses made somehow. We don't make them here because we don't have a fabrication lab."

Depending on the sister service's current workload, patients who are seen on a Thursday could possibly get their glasses the following day.

"That's faster service than back home," he said. "I can't get you glasses in less than a week or two at home station."

Also, thanks to the Army and Sergeant English, servicemembers deployed to the 379 AEW can now easily replace broken and lost glasses and gas mask inserts by going to https://g-eyes.amedd.army.mil.

"You just have to type in your social security number and your APO AE address and you can get a replacement pair of glasses in about a week," said Sergeant English, a Fayetteville, N.C., native deployed from the Air Force Academy, Colo. "You don't even have to come in to see us. The glasses are delivered right to you."

Deploying gives a servicemember a feeling of great significance, but being the first in a career field to set up shop in a region gives an even greater sense of purpose.

"It's nice to do something that's going to have an enduring effect rather than stepping in and being here for only four months and being gone," Colonel Collins said. "It's nice to know we had the opportunity to be the first ones on the ground (for our career fields), set it up and make the footprint for an enduring mission."