By Megan LaBar
Do you need to fill your eye glasses or contact lens prescription? Do you want to buy designer eye glass frames? You can do all of this on campus.
Phyllis Michalski is clinic supervisor of the RVCC Optical Clinic. Michalski, 53, completed the ophthalmic science program 12 years ago. She says the clinic primarily serves faculty, their families and students, about 30 customers a semester.
The clinic does not perform eye examinations but it does fill outside prescriptions for glasses. According to Michalski, the cost of filling a prescription at the clinic is “about half the price of other retailers.” The glasses are equal in quality because the clinic “can do anything anybody else does. We have the capabilities.”
About 12 students currently rotate shifts at the clinic. Student Andrew Walters, who is enrolled in the apprenticeship program, says a typical day in the clinic means “cutting lenses to make glasses.” Walters, 26, also repairs and adjusts customers’ eyeglasses.
Kimberly Vita, 24, is enrolled in the degree program. She says that an optician is “not a profession too many people are terribly familiar with.”
According to Michalski, an ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who can do surgery; an optometrist can perform eye exams, prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses, and make the glasses. “Opticians are the pharmacists of eye care because we fill the prescriptions,” she says. There is a shortage of licensed opticians in the state, she says. That is partly because people don’t realize the two professions are distinct.
Walters says state law requires people who fit and dispense eye glasses and contacts to be licensed. He says opticians are “the unsung heroes of the eye care profession (because they) know how important vision and eyesight is.” He feels that people in New Jersey should practice better eye health. Essentially that means a once-yearly eye examination. People should be wearing their correct prescription. This is important to Walters because “we all know how good Jersey drivers are!”
Michalski says the RVCC clinic “has the best facilities and highest licensing rate in the state.” She describes optical facilities at Essex and Camden as “dungeons.”Juanita Flagg, 44, graduated from the ophthalmic program in May of 2006. Would she ever go anywhere else for her glasses? “At this point, no” says Flagg. She says that the clinic has the best quality lenses.
The reason the glasses are so good, says Michalski, is because “our lenses come from outside labs.” That allows the clinic to order “the best surfaces and materials for making glasses.”
The RVCC optical clinic is not affiliated with any clinic or lab. Some of the equipment is donated, some has been purchased by the college. As a result, Walters says, much of the equipment is “a mishmash of different brands.” The clinic makes a small profit selling eyeglasses and contacts.
Vita says that her work in the clinic is fun and beneficial. “It’s a difficult program,” she says, “but it is easy to get a feel for what is expected of you.”
Flagg, who plans to take the boards this month to obtain licensure, agrees. “The program was intense but (instructor) Brian (Thomas) was great. He was a tough teacher for a reason.”
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