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- Feb 15, 2005
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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.
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.