Each new year brings great strides of accomplishment and new hope to the aging, thanks to research in vision. Past research has given optometry a fruitful beginning into understanding the prob lems of vision; current research will serve as the road to complete understanding. Gratefully, the aging person may look forward to several more decades of productive, "seeing", alert years all because of the vision progress being made through research. SUMMARY America has entered into a new phase of social development. Greater life expectancy and a rapidly increasing older population has created new problems, more challenges, far greater potential for national growth and development. Since 1900 the number of men and women over 65 has increased 41⁄2 times, while our total population has little better than doubled. Approximately 1 out of every 12 people are over 65, a total of about 15 million. By 1975, it is estimated the total will reach 21 million people. Another 40 million men and women are between the ages of 45 and 65. This means that almost 50 per cent of our population is over 40. Our country's great strength lies in our aging and aged. Here lies a vast and growing reservoir of energy and experience. Harness this power through unhandicapped vision .... ... give it expression, dignity and independence, and it becomes an asset. Allow it to degenerate, vegetate and become dependent, and it becomes a liability. Our age of mechanization and automation has afforded a rise in our standard of living, but it has also increased the amount of leisure. Work has become more specialized requiring greater visual efficiency, leisure time has become broader, requiring better visual acuity for true enjoyment. The frequency of retirement has increased, while age of retirement has decreased, requiring adequate visual acuity to keep the older person occupied. With these newfound "leisures", many older people are making use of their freedom from family and work responsibility. But many find themselves having the desire, but being hampered by visual defects. The un fortunate part of it all, is that this is a period of life when the person has the experience, knowledge and desire to enjoy life to the utmost, and offer more to humanity. Perhaps one of the most tragic aspects of old age is feeling dependent, lacking a sense of self-sufficiency, feeling as though not wanted. Much of this lack of confidence is the psychological results of physical handicaps, often those in the vision category. Through research and development, optometry has surged forward to find new ways and means to keep the visual facilities comfortably active longer. Optometrists discovered long ago that they must prescribe not only for the task but also for the mode of life. This is being done more and more in order to aid the senior citizen. Bifocals, multifocals, coated lenses, light and environment studies, hardened lenses, microscopic lenses and contact lenses, among other optical aids, are serving to prolong the "seeing" life of the aging person. There is much more to be learned .... much more that the senior citizen of tomorrow can look forward to and see than those of today. But the effort is a worthy and compensating one, because in the senior citizen, you have humanity at its highest level of mature judgement. In "Federal Responsibilities in the Field of Aging", President Dwight D. Eisenhower said: "In considering the changed circumstances presented Vision is the precious sense that stimulates opportunities, and fulfills them after they have been established. We are looking forward to even a better life for the senior citizen through improved vision. YOUR OPPORTUNITY AS A LADY O.D.1 It was hard to believe it seemed impossible that such a complete change could be accomplished with such dramatic suddenness. But it happened just that way, before your eyes—and his. As a woman optometrist-a "Lady O.D."-it is only natural that many of your patients are youngsters, with seeing problems much the same as those of adults, except that they take a little more understanding, patience, and a softer approach. This young man of 9 was brought to you by his parents because of some troubles he'd been having. His high intelligence and his mediocre grades in school didn't match up. He was backward in sports, although he tried hard. He was shy and had few playmates. He frequently bruised himself by running into things-accidents which always seemed to occur in strange, poorly lighted places. The school nurse suggested that his parents bring him to you. Upon examination, you found his problem was not seeing properly, a serious problem if left alone, but one easily corrected with professional care. You recommended. The parents consented. The wheels turned. A few days later you put a couple of small pieces of optical glass before his eyes, and the transformation took place. His eyes lighted up behind those bits of glass like the bright and shiny Christmas tree that he would see clearly this year for the first time. All this, because you are a woman optometrist who works with sight, the most precious of all senses. You are trained to practice the scientific miracle of helping people see the things that are around them. This is your chosen profession. It has been rewarding-has given you the satisfaction of serving fellow men. Before you became a Lady O.D. and hung up your license, you had many decisions to make. You wanted a career where a woman's opportunity would be on par with a man's; you found this in optometry. If you were to enter a profession, you wanted one in which its members and the public accepted the woman: you found optometrists actually were inviting more women to join their profession. You wanted a profession where many women are already making their way, one affording specialties or areas of work particularly opportune to a woman and in which she can be as equally adept as men. In optometry you found that you could. It's thrilling to practice optometry in your own office and build your own professional identity. The opportunity to work in a consulting and advisory capacity with psychologists, regular and special teachers, and guidance clinics offers a constant challenge. There is particular excitement in rendering the optometrist's unique service to a child with learning problems. Such a career was chosen by the Lady O.D., Dr. Anita Eberl of Milwaukee, Wis., who says: "There are few professions in which women are accepted on a par with men, and still fewer in which a woman can be absolutely independent. For me, optometry has met these goals." Establish your own practice. Or, join others in an already established practice. Many young optometric graduates wish to join other professionals in an established practice. Opportunities exist in this direction for the Lady O.D. Across the country, successful practitioners are reaching out for young optometrists to join them, preparing in many cases for successors in the years of retirement. Another outlet for the young lady professional is an entry into a growing realm of activity-group practice. She might join other optometrists to serve the public from a single group of offices, or join with other health service practitioners in a clinical setting to treat many physical problems. Or, specialize in vision care for children. Optometrist like her father and proud of her professional heritage is Dr. Ruth Winkler. This Lady O.D. of Tulsa, Okla., says her life assumes great importance when she works with "young eyes that need visual help and visual training." Among outstanding child specialists is Dr. Lois B. Bing, consulting optometrist for public schools in Euclid, Ohio. "Working with children has been a goal of mine since early life. It provides a real satisfaction, for, through vision tests and care given each day to schoolchildren, I know I am helping many youngsters 1 Doctor of optometry-profession with a future for women. meet the challenge of education, and on to happier, fuller lives ahead," says Dr. Bing. Combine your skills with social service. Such has been the choice of Dr. Elizabeth E. Caloroso, of Glendale, Calif., who spends a major part of her professional life working with people with social and financial problems in addition to their ocular ones. Her interest in public service is summed up this way: "There is little equality in the contents of wallets or bank accounts. But much of the world's beauty and many exciting happenings are free for the seeing. I am happy to make the world available to those in need." Or, be a teacher of optometry. Across the Nation, colleges and schools of optometry have given Lady O.D.'s the chance to combine that profession with a love for teaching. Dr. Margaret Dowaliby, associate professor in clinical optometry at the Los Angeles College of Optometry, says, "This is a wonderful association for a woman. Working closely with students and other faculty members leads me to many friends, social and professional. Watching our young graduates go on to make their ways professionally, rising as leaders in their communities and making lives more enjoyable for the public they serve, is the teacher's great reward. Optometry has equipped me with two professions: teaching, which is my first love; and a private practice enabling me to share the subsequent valuable experience with my students." These examples from real life illustrate a few of the professional avenues open to the woman optometrist. But this career opportunity holds many other special appeals for women. Take Dr. Dorthea M. McCoy of Wichita, Kans., who says: "As a professional in a community like Wichita, I have many opportunities to be of service. There are so many things to be done and not enough people who want to do them. Optometry has given me a full, professional career with enough time left to pursue outside activities to the fullest. In fact, I am certain my professional background provides the springboard into the multitude of community services and activities which I so thoroughly enjoy." This comes from a lady O.D. who is a member of her National, State, and local optometric group and is a member of a standing committee for the American Optometric Association. She serves her own community through her sorority, her church, and her service club of which she is past president and district vice governor. She finds herself in constant demand as a public speaker. Her example illustrates professional standing—community leadership—hand in hand. HUSBAND-WIFE PROFESSIONAL TEAM Drs. Ruth P. and Warren G. Morris of Toledo, Ohio, illustrate the married couple in optometry. They graduated from the Ohio State University School of Optometry and set up their office in Toledo. Dr. Ruth likes to talk about the husband-and-wife aspects of their profession : "Lots of married couples would give anything to be able to work together and we're lucky to be set for just that as long as we wish. I have my patients. He has his. And some come into the office to ask for either of us. We share the same interests around the clock and, thanks to optometry, my own financial security has enabled me to employ help to take care of the homemaking chores I dislike and I've enjoyed the other household duties as a desirable hobby." Optometry offers an outstanding career for women. In a growing nation, uncrowded optometry will need approximately 27,000 practitioners by 1970. A woman optometrist can set up a general practice, affiliate with an already established practice, or she can specialize in one of many fields. She can work the years that seem best suited to her, take leave for parenthood and return when she wishes. The minimum 5-year college training in optometry is the way to a world of professional standing and income. Throughout her training and her professional career, the lady O.D. is accepted and treated as an equal by her male colleagues. For this is a field in which women as well as men are both needed and wanted. It is an exciting, challenging, rewarding, and dynamic profession of service to people. If this booklet makes you want to know more about the opportunities in optometry, write to the American Optometric Association. Ask for the brochure, "Planning Your Professional Career in Optometry," which lists colleges and their entrance requirements, shows figures on potential income, and describes fully the opportunities awaiting both men and women in this rapidly growing profession. |