News from the AOA's Blog

By Dominick M. Maino, O.D., M.Ed., professor, Pediatrics/ Binocular Vision Illinois Eye Institute/Illinois College of Optometry

Robert L. Johnson, O.D., was a true pioneer in optometry, a community leader and a man of great faith. I had an opportunity to meet and talk to him at several meetings over the years and to have an opportunity to know him even better through his daughter, Dr. Stephanie Johnson-Brown who was a classmate of mine at the Illinois College of Optometry. The obituary in the Chicago Tribune noted that he was one of five children born and raised in Helena, Ark., to Joe and Catherine Chatman Johnson. Dr. Bob (as he was often called) was an outstanding football player in high school and attended Xavier University in Louisiana in New Orleans on a football scholarship. He met his future wife, Mercedes Sylvest, while in college, and together they raised six children. Read the rest of this entry ?

Past AOA Optometrist of the Year Richmond Lewis Scott, O.D., died on Jan. 3, 2011. Dr. Scott was a pioneering state and national leader in optometry who helped shape the scope and mode of optometric care in Indiana and the nation.

Dr. Scott attended St. Mary’s University while waiting to be called into cadet training for World War II. He received his silver wings and his commission with the Army Air Corp. On Feb. 16, 1945, his plane was shot down while flying a mission over Unna, Germany. His two gunners were killed in the explosion, but Dr. Scott managed to bail out and was captured. He was first sent to a hospital because of his wounds and then sent to a German prison camp for the duration of the war. He was awarded the Purple Heart. Read the rest of this entry ?

The South Jersey Eye Center (SJEC) of Camden, N.J., was presented with a GlaxoSmithKline 14th Annual IMPACT Award and $40,000 in funding for the work it is doing providing access to health care in the south New Jersey area.
 The South Jersey Eye Center is now a two-time IMPACT Awards winner. The organization received its first IMPACT Award in 2002.

The center provides a wide array of programs to children, adults and seniors that help to tackle and prevent eye disease. Read the rest of this entry ?

Nineteen students and five ODs from SVOSH-NECO examined 1,041 Haitian patients in the Dominican Republic in 2010.

In 2010, 19 optometry students and five optometrists departed Boston for a 10-day mission trip to the Dominican Republic. As members of the Volunteers in Optometric Service to Humanity (VOSH) One program at the New England College of Optometry (NECO), these students volunteered countless hours fundraising and preparing for the long-awaited trip abroad.

Thousands of glasses were packed, eye medicines collected, and hand-held equipment gathered as they prepared to travel to an area in desperate need of health services. San Antonio, Yamasa, is the third most impoverished area in the Dominican Republic. The population consists of former workers of a recently closed sugarcane plantation who would otherwise not have access to health care. This particular population suffers from significant malnutrition, including anemia and deficiencies in vitamins A, B and C; these are all essential components in maintaining good ocular health. Read the rest of this entry ?