Newsletter

Upon arriving in Blanding, each student was given a schedule of clinics or practices they would serve in throughout the week. The practices we spent time in varied from nursing homes, assisted livings facilities, family practice clinics, an optometry office, a physical therapy office, and community health centers. Each student was assigned different locations for each day. The exception was myself and another student. The other student is a pre-physical therapy student, so he spent all of his time in the local physical therapy office. Likewise, I spent all of my time in the local Optometry office.

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For each day with Dr. Kirk and the Blanding Family Vision Clinic staff I was able to sit in on every check up and appointment, but only with permission from each patient. Through the many visits I was able to see a large sample of the spectrum of problems that an Optometrist experiences. I was able to see several normal eye appointments, post cataract surgery, post lasik surgery, and other normal experiences. The needs of the patients varied drastically. There were kids, adults, and elders each with different vision needs.

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Dr. Kirk was a tremendous help. He allowed me to sit in on each visit. He taught me what each machine in his office did, how to operate many of them, and instructed me in what he thought were the best tips and advice as a pre-optometry student. To aid in each appointment, I took upon myself the task of using a piece of machinery to scan the current prescription in the patient’s glasses.

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The only challenge I encountered during my time in Blanding Family Vision Clinic was finding the balance of being involved in the check-up process. As a student, I did not want to overstep my boundaries and interrupt the flow of Dr. Kirk’s work. On the opposite end of that fear, I didn’t want to only observe. I was happy to help in any aspect that I could. After the first day, Dr. Kirk and I were able to find even ground as to where I could aid and where I should only observe.

Outside of the office, all of the other students and I were able to visit with a local Native American named Shirley. We had a Navajo taco dinner with Shirley and her husband, and then we listened to her story of growing up in  the Navajo culture in the Four Corners area as a Native American. I also had the opportunity to venture into the surrounding areas with Dr. Kirk as a guide and see different artifacts and old ruins of the Navajo people. It amazed me that there were so many pieces of pottery just lying around to be admired and viewed.

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I loved every aspect of my project. I learned a lot about the Four Corners area, explored different aspects of Optometry, and learned to love the field of practice I am pursuing even further.