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Home » What's New » “The Sneak Thief of Sight” Is On Our Minds This January

“The Sneak Thief of Sight” Is On Our Minds This January

Who we’re looking for:

As a Receptionist/Optometric Assistant, you will be the first point of contact for our patients! We are looking for a friendly, warm face to welcome patients and offer administrative support across the practice.

This is a full time Receptionist/Optometric Assistant position. Experience in the optical or eye care industry is not required but would be an asset. Training will be provided to the successful candidate to ensure a smooth and successful start with our practice. Our office is open Monday – Friday from 9am – 5pm, closed on weekends and all statutory holidays.

Your day-to-day will include:

  • Greeting and attending patients in person and via the phone
  • Professionally assisting doctors, staff, visitors and patients
  • Answering all phone calls in a professional and courteous manner
  • Scheduling appointments between Optometrist and patients/Opticians and patients
  • Liaison between departments, specialist/ophthalmologist offices, and pharmacies with discretion and professionalism
  • Telephone triage of eye care emergencies
  • Complete accurate documentation of patient visits, maintaining patient records (electronic and paper), updating patient demographic information
  • Ensuring that stock levels are adequate and orders are timely
  • Communicate medical information and results to patients (under clinical supervision)
  • General accounting, billing to patients, billing to insurance companies
  • Ensuring the reception area is tidy
  • Receiving, sorting and distributing daily e-mails, mail and deliveries
  • Maintaining business inventory such as office supplies, eye drops, and contact lenses
  • Scheduling maintenance and repair of office equipment
  • Updating calendars and scheduling meetings
  • Performing all duties within HIPPA regulations, maintaining confidentiality of all doctor, staff and patient information

Requirements:

  • High School Diploma or GED Required
  • 1 year + reception/customer service experience is ideal
  • Experience in the optical or eye care industry is not required but would be an asset
  • Great communication and interpersonal skills
  • Ability to adapt to a fast-paced and often-changing work environment
  • Familiarity with computers and an ability to adapt to and learn new technology and software

A little bit about us:

Spectrum Eyecare & Eyewear was founded in 1976 by Dr. Peter McGuigan and we have been helping High River and surrounding area SEE for over 40 years! The practice has had locations in downtown High River before moving to its present home on 3RD Ave in January of 2019.

Dr. Tannis Shakya joined the practice as an associate in January of 2004, and became a partner in February 2006. Dr. Shakya maintains custody of Dr. McGuigan’s patient files following his retirement in April of 2022. Dr. Karlie Tweed joined the practice full-time in August 2023.

We offer a full range of eye health services to clients of all ages – from comprehensive eye health assessments, ocular disease diagnosis and treatment, post-operative care, contact lens evaluation and more – all with personalized attention and a smile.

Please forward us your resume (office@spectrumeyecare.ca) or drop by in person if you are interested in joining our team!

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January is Glaucoma Awareness Month

Make your resolution for healthy vision this year by knowing the risks and signs of glaucoma.

As the leading cause of blindness worldwide, glaucoma has earned the nickname “The Sneak Thief of Sight”. This is because often there are either no symptoms or a sudden onset of serious symptoms that can quickly lead to vision loss if not treated.

Glaucoma-related vision loss is usually caused by optic nerve damage due to elevated pressure within the eye (intraocular pressure). The damage cannot be reversed however there is treatment for glaucoma, particularly when it is caught early before nerve damage has occurred.

While anyone can develop glaucoma (children are sometimes even born with it) there are risk factors that increase the chances of developing the disease. These include:

  • Age over 60 (over 40 for African Americans)
  • Family history of the disease
  • High eye or blood pressure
  • African American, Japanese, or Hispanic descent
  • Previous eye injury or surgery
  • Diabetes
  • History of corticosteroid treatment
  • Severe myopia (nearsightedness) or hyperopia (farsightedness)

Known measures to help prevent glaucoma or reduce the risks include maintaining a healthy diet and weight, regular exercise, refraining from smoking and protecting your eyes from UV exposure. Controlling blood pressure is also beneficial.

Types of Glaucoma

There are two main types of glaucoma, open-angle and angle-closure, with open-angle being the most common and accounting for approximately 70-90% of cases. Open-angle refers to chronic cases of the disease that progress slowly over time, and are usually caused by high intraocular pressure. Angle-closure glaucoma can be chronic or acute and is often caused by an inherited condition or the result of an injury to the eye.

While each of these types of glaucoma has subtypes the major differences between them have to do with the way the disease affects the eye and the symptoms. While open-angle often has no early symptoms yet may eventually cause loss of peripheral vision, angle-closure glaucoma is often characterized by more obvious signs such as blurred vision, pain, headaches, tunnel vision, halos that appear around lights and even nausea and dizziness. These symptoms can be a medical emergency and must be treated immediately.

Detecting Glaucoma

Since there are often no symptoms as glaucoma develops, regular glaucoma screenings are key to early diagnosis and treatment. Such screenings should include an exam of the optic nerve, measuring the inner eye pressure and visual field screenings. Some cases of glaucoma occur with normal or even low eye pressure (low tension glaucoma) and therefore people should not rely on any vision screenings where all they do is an “airpuff” test.

Newer technologies such as OCT, can painlessly scan the optic nerve and determine if there is glaucomatous damage even earlier than visual field tests or other exams might show.

Treatment for Glaucoma

While vision that is lost from glaucoma’s damage to the optic nerve can’t be restored, the eye can be repaired (and intraocular pressure returned to normal) to prevent further damage and loss. Treatments include eye drops and surgery, depending on the type of glaucoma, the cause and the severity of the disease.

If you have been diagnosed with glaucoma and prescribed eye drops, it is important to keep using the eye drops as directed even if the drops irritate your eyes or you do not notice improvement in vision. The eye drops prevent eye pressure spikes that can damage the optic nerve. Since the vision loss from glaucoma is not reversible, if you have concerns with the eye drops, ask your eye doctor to try out a different brand instead.

Childhood eye injuries, such as a ball hit or puncture, particularly one which altered the internal structures of the eye or allowed fluid to flow out of the eye can cause problems later in life. Glaucoma that results from such long-forgotten injuries may not be detected until years after the injury, so it is important to have routine eye checkups if you have ever sustained an eye injury.

The best way to protect your eyes and vision from this devastating disease, especially if you have heightened risk factors, is to ensure you have regular comprehensive eye exams to look for signs of glaucoma inside the eye. Since symptoms often don’t appear until damage is done, the best course of action is preventative.

If you have any of the risk factors listed above, when you come in for your yearly comprehensive eye exam, speak to your eye doctor about glaucoma and what you can do to prevent it.