Ohio OD employs baby doll in practice
February 18, 2010
Scott Sedlacek, O.D., poses with ‘Baby Bobby,’ an InfantSEE® ambassador, in his office.
At this year’s Ohio Optometric Association Leadership Day, Executive Director Rick Cornett and Associate Director Linda Fette charged state leaders with promoting the InfantSEE® program in new and creative ways. InfantSEE®, a public health program, managed by Optometry’s Charity™ – The AOA Foundation, is designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life.
Under this program, AOA optometrists provide a comprehensive eye and vision assessments for infants within the first year of life regardless of a family’s income or access to insurance coverage.
“On Leadership Day all of Ohio’s influential ODs, including zone governors and Keypersons, meet together in Columbus,” said Scott Sedlacek, O.D. “Every year a different theme or initiative is selected, and this year they picked InfantSEE®. Rick Cornett and Linda Fette bought 10 large baby dolls and dressed them in InfantSEE® t-shirts. At the end of the meeting certain doctors were told to take the dolls and come up with creative ways to promote the program.”
As Dr. Sedlacek has a 5-year-old and 2-and-a-half-year old, he is used to dealing with a lot of dolls anyway.
“When I took the doll home, my kids immediately named him Baby Bobby, and my son dressed him in a soccer outfit,” said Dr. Sedlacek.
He then brought the doll to his office, placing it in various spots and patients started asking what it was for and if someone had left it behind. Dr. Sedlacek used that as his opportunity to explain the doll’s purpose.
“It was my constant reminder to internally market the program,” he said. “I even plan to change his outfits seasonally to keep him fresh as repeat patients return. Many doctors including me forget to talk about InfantSEE® with so many other things going on every day.”
Dr. Sedlacek has been an InfantSEE® provider since the inception of the program, but the introduction of Baby Bobby has taken his participation to a new level.
“Being an InfantSEE® provider I probably only had one patient ever ask me about it,” said Dr. Sedlacek. “But nearly every patient asks about Baby Bobby. In all of last year, I had three InfantSEE® patients, and I’ve had three since last month when I got Baby Bobby.”
Dr. Sedlacek continued, “I’ve had an InfantSEE® button on my reception area corkboard for years, and the InfantSEE® pamphlets on a table, but no one has ever asked about the program. But the baby doll really has sparked interest in a simple way to get the conversation started about getting infants into the office.”
Baby Bobby has also contributed to his practice in other ways.
“I tell parents if their child is smaller than Baby Bobby, the exam is no charge because it is that important to me,” said Dr. Sedlacek. “If they are bigger, like 2 or 3-years-old, I tell them they should have had an exam by now, but if not I tend to say it’s no charge to get them in too. It’s increased paid exams as well because I end up seeing the older siblings and eventually the dad too. It doesn’t just increase exams for InfantSEE® but it increases exams of families.”
“You have to take it upon yourself to promote InfantSEE®,” he said. “Having the doll in the office is so easy and helpful. Baby Bobby is the best ambassador we can have in the office, and he works for free,” he said.
To sign up as an InfantSEE® provider and learn more about the program, contact infantsee@aoa.org or visit www.infantsee.org.
