Taking Over for Dad vs Venturing Out on My Own

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stevec

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I am a 3rd year optometry student. My dad is a 59 year old OD in South Carolina. He has his own private practice back home, has his own building, and a great location in a medical area. Many of you are probably like, "I wish I was that lucky!"

After optometry school, I could basically just walk in and start working. Really, for me to work there efficiently, he'd need to do some expansion because there are only two exam lanes, and I think we need 2 per doctor. He might even be able to do a remodel of some of the building to provide more efficient use of space.

Without giving you numbers, let's just say his practice is thriving well enough for my own standards. He could certainly see more patients per day by delegating more duties and improve patient flow, he could add a lab, he could offer more frames. His practice is old (probably 40+?). I'm not sure how long it was going before he took over. His only retinal camera uses polaroids. He can do his own automated visual fields. He doesn't have any advanced instruments like OCT, HRT, etc. He has a great relationship with the local ophthalmologists who are literally right around the corner. His patient base is certainly on the poorer end of the spectrum. Competition from commercial is relatively low. There's an H. Rubin and a few big box stores (Sears, Wal-mart, JCPenney). I complain, but based on seeing a few other dated private practices in SC, dad's place is still one of the nicest around.

The problem with this situation is I don't want to live in this town anymore. I love my dad and would love to work with him. I just wish his practice was in another town. I wish I could somehow take his practice and all his patients and move somewhere more desirable, but we all know that's not possible. I'm a single white male and let's just say the dating pool back home isn't the greatest either. The nearest alternate livable town is about an hour drive. Without giving you the name of home, here are a few stats based on the 2000 census.

12,765 people, 4,512 households, and 2,526 families

67.51% African American, 29.78% White, 0.13% Native American, 1.14% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.79% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.29%

median income $30,306
median income for a family $37,008
About 17.9% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.7% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over.

If I could practice elsewhere, it'd preferably be somewhere in North Carolina (Ashville?) or Tennessee (Knoxville, Oakridge?). I think I'd still like to stay in the south close to family. In the long term, I think I'd be happier moving away.

What would you do? Am I crazy for thinking about giving this up? All this talk about the current state of optometry can be depressing on here at times, so taking the more difficult path is a little daunting.

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Ask your dad if he would mind if you tried it on your own for a couple of years. If you open up cold and flop it wouldn't hurt that bad if you could go back and work for dad as a safety net.
 
I am a 3rd year optometry student. My dad is a 59 year old OD in South Carolina. He has his own private practice back home, has his own building, and a great location in a medical area. Many of you are probably like, "I wish I was that lucky!"

After optometry school, I could basically just walk in and start working. Really, for me to work there efficiently, he'd need to do some expansion because there are only two exam lanes, and I think we need 2 per doctor. He might even be able to do a remodel of some of the building to provide more efficient use of space.

Without giving you numbers, let's just say his practice is thriving well enough for my own standards. He could certainly see more patients per day by delegating more duties and improve patient flow, he could add a lab, he could offer more frames. His practice is old (probably 40+?). I'm not sure how long it was going before he took over. His only retinal camera uses polaroids. He can do his own automated visual fields. He doesn't have any advanced instruments like OCT, HRT, etc. He has a great relationship with the local ophthalmologists who are literally right around the corner. His patient base is certainly on the poorer end of the spectrum. Competition from commercial is relatively low. There's an H. Rubin and a few big box stores (Sears, Wal-mart, JCPenney). I complain, but based on seeing a few other dated private practices in SC, dad's place is still one of the nicest around.

The problem with this situation is I don't want to live in this town anymore. I love my dad and would love to work with him. I just wish his practice was in another town. I wish I could somehow take his practice and all his patients and move somewhere more desirable, but we all know that's not possible. I'm a single white male and let's just say the dating pool back home isn't the greatest either. The nearest alternate livable town is about an hour drive. Without giving you the name of home, here are a few stats based on the 2000 census.

12,765 people, 4,512 households, and 2,526 families

67.51% African American, 29.78% White, 0.13% Native American, 1.14% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.79% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.29%

median income $30,306
median income for a family $37,008
About 17.9% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.7% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over.

If I could practice elsewhere, it'd preferably be somewhere in North Carolina (Ashville?) or Tennessee (Knoxville, Oakridge?). I think I'd still like to stay in the south close to family. In the long term, I think I'd be happier moving away.

What would you do? Am I crazy for thinking about giving this up? All this talk about the current state of optometry can be depressing on here at times, so taking the more difficult path is a little daunting.

I think you have a nice set-up that can pay dividends for your future. I would personally work with your dad for two years (don't have him expand, just try expanding the hours). The experience would be priceless. If you need "to find your own way" after that time, move on. While you are working there, scope out other opportunities. I'm sure your dad will understand.

I know your personal life is a big issue. I can relate. I live in a town a little bigger than yours. I was not married, but got lucky. I like to travel and met my wife on vacation (actually Belgium). Things like this happen all the time.

It is difficult to put your professional life before your personal life, but you are investing 8 years of your life and you would be leaving a goldmine of experience and advice behind. Your father would still be a phone call away, but it is always nice to share cases and issues in person.

Good luck with your decision.
 
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I would go work elsewhere first, so you can get some experience and bring something to the practice. Then I would go work for your dad. If it does'nt workout w/ your dad open yor own practice.
 
I think the previous posters who suggested you try it on your own with your dad's practice as a safety net have good points. Something you might want to consider, not to downplay NC or TN, is to look around SC and see if any practice opportunities are available here. Since I see you're not graduating for another 1.5 years, that gives you plenty of time to look around and see if anyone here is thinking about retiring. The last time I went to an SCOA function, admittedly its been a few years, there were a number of docs who looked like they should be nearing retirement age.

Just something to think about.
 
I've always had this little dream of living near/in the mountains. That's why I mentioned the Knoxville or Asheville areas. I suppose Greenville, SC wouldn't be bad. There are certainly worse places in SC. My dad actually has a one-day-a-week hole in the wall satellite office about 40 minutes away in a town of about 2,000 people. I swear that sleepy middle-of-nowhere place is almost nothing but old poor people. It was started by his late partner, and probably made more sense when one doc was covering the main office at all times. Financially there has been no advantage for him to keep it all these years, but he's just the type of person who would never feel right about abandoning those patients. The only full time OD in town retired recently, and not surprisingly, nobody replaced him. I suppose somebody is going to tell me to go work there now.

Are you a med student in South Carolina? If so, may I ask why you'd be at an SCOA event?
 
I've always had this little dream of living near/in the mountains. That's why I mentioned the Knoxville or Asheville areas. I suppose Greenville, SC wouldn't be bad. There are certainly worse places in SC. My dad actually has a one-day-a-week hole in the wall satellite office about 40 minutes away in a town of about 2,000 people. I swear that sleepy middle-of-nowhere place is almost nothing but old poor people. It was started by his late partner, and probably made more sense when one doc was covering the main office at all times. Financially there has been no advantage for him to keep it all these years, but he's just the type of person who would never feel right about abandoning those patients. The only full time OD in town retired recently, and not surprisingly, nobody replaced him. I suppose somebody is going to tell me to go work there now.

Are you a med student in South Carolina? If so, may I ask why you'd be at an SCOA event?

I am. Dad was an OD and the summer and December meetings make for good vacations (AOA's even better).

You might consider Greer as an option as well. Its growing fairly steadily these days and its not getting the influx of ODs and MDs like Greenville does.
 
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