Back in the saddle again!

So it is the end of my first week in business.  I look back on the past 5 days and realize that it is good to be back in the saddle again.  Fifty one is way too early for retirement.  I was bored too death.
Taking care of patients and people is what I do.  I missed the contact with patients and giving sight to those in need.  Happy to be...back in the saddle again!

MONDAY August 24th COLLINS EYE CENTER to see patient!

If you need an appointment, please call (615)447-9850 and leave a message.  Someone from my office will return your call in a couple of days to get your appointment scheduled.  I am looking forward to seeing patients and my new business.

The mission of Collins Eye Center is to provide high tech eyecare with a personalized experience to our patients.  Our goal is to enhance their lives and give them sight.  We want to show our patients the difference that caring eyecare professionals can make.

We will not overbook patients and make you wait for long periods of time.  You will see a difference in the way we do things at Collins Eye Center.  Call today for an appointment.

You See Your Dentist Every 6 Months...You See Your Optometrist Every???

Everyone has learned from an early age that one should see the dentist every 6 months for routine and preventative dental care.  Most parents take their children to the pediatrician at least once a year.  Most people see their primary care physicians once per year.  Most women see their gynecologist once per year.  And most people have their eyes checked how often and when?  Once per year?  Once every 2 years?  When their vision is blurry?  When they flunk the driver's license exam?

I would argue that you can get false teeth.  You can get a lot of things in the medical and healthcare arena but you can not get new eyes.  We are not at the Steve Austin, bionic man, ability just yet.  All of the young people reading will say who is that?

Why are your eyes second fiddle?  I could lose my hearing tomorrow.  My wife says I have lost my hearing today.  I could be in a wheelchair,  I could have dentures, I could have a lot of surgery, but my eyes...they are worth a lot more than most people think.

One of the leading causes of learning problems in school is poor vision.  And most parents rely on the pediatrician to do a chart at the end of a long hall or some school screener.  Trust me, they have their importance but no screener at the pediatrician office will discover the things that can be at an eye exam.  Sorry, and my brother is a great pediatrician.   I know what they were taught in school and it is no substitute for an eye exam by an optometrist for health and vision related problems.

So my simple question to you today is...how much are your eyes worth?  I paid $225 for a plumber to do 15 minutes of work on a drain last week.  How much are your eyes worth compared to other parts of your body that you know you could live without?  If I pay you $600 today to never put on a pair of contacts or eyeglasses again, what would you say.  Vision is everything.  It is how we experience the world...it is how we experience life...it is almost everything!

Take some time today and book an appointment and have your eyes checked.  It can change your life and the way you see things.

Collins Eye Center - Come In and Experience the Difference!

Ok, I have not blogged in quite awhile.  But in the internet world, blogs get information out to people and move your name up the search lists.  So this blog is a shameless plug to promote my new practice in Brentwood, TN.  I will open up around the first or second week in August of this year.

I sold my half of my former practices in Antioch, TN, Franklin, TN, Nashville, TN, Columbia, TN, Hendersonville, TN, and Clarksville, TN.

My new practice's mission is to provide high tech eyecare with a personalized experience to our patients.  Our goal is to enhance their lives and give them sight.  We want to show our patients the difference that caring eyecare professionals can make.

My new practice will be located in The Shoppes of Maryland Farm,  115 Penn Warren Drive, Suite 450 Brentwood, TN.  My office number is (615)477-9850.  If you call, it will go to voicemail.  I'm high tech now with VoIP so I will return your call from my iPhone when I get a chance.

In the meantime, you can call and request your medical records from my former practice if you plan on continuing your eyecare with me.  That way I will have all of your records when you come in to see me.

I am looking forward to getting back to work and seeing all of my patients.  Twenty five years of caring for eyeballs!  I love it.  SEE YOU SOON!

                                                                                    C. Garry Collins, O.D.
                                                                                    Collins Eye Center
                                                                                    www.collinseyecenter.com

Is The House Half Full or Half Empty?

Today, I moved my oldest of two children into his college dorm. As we were driving home, I began to wonder whether my house was half full or half empty now. I have always been the type of person who believed that the glass was half full instead of half empty. But today I started to think more like the pessimist when thinking about my house. In three more years, I will see my daughter off to her dorm wherever that may be and my house or I should say my children's rooms will definitely be empty.

I'm not sure how I am going to like the empty feeling. Of course, Bill Cosby says they all come back home again so maybe this is a half full kind of moment since they will be back.   Or maybe, the glass is half full and my house is half empty.

When Is Mission Work A Mission?

I am preparing to go on a trip to Mexico to do eye exams. I am going with a S.V.O.S.H.(Student chapter of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity) from Southern College of Optometry. This year, I will be the staff doctor and will lead a team of optometry students with a colleague who graduated with me back in the dark ages.

This will be my first trip as a staff doctor. My third and fourth year of optometry school, I ventured to Quesada, Costa Rica to perform eye exams on S.V.O.S.H trips. We would stay in the homes of Lion's Club members in the local community and venture out to do eye exams during the day. Once we got to our destination, there would be hundreds of people lining up for eye exams and glasses. Many walked or came on horseback. Usually we were in old run down medical clinics, churches, or schools. We helped many people and it was just as rewarding for me educationally and spiritually.

Several years ago, I was speaking fondly of my trips to Costa Rica to a colleague. I was talking about the importance and need of medical mission work around the world. My colleague suggested in our conversation that medical mission work apart from the church was somehow different. My interpretation was that he thought this type of work might not be as important as medical mission work that was somehow affiliated with a religious call to conversion. He went on to say that those who receive this type of medical care must know the hand who feeds them.

Being Presbyterian, I must confess, I view medical mission work differently. I think the words in the bible "Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself" means exactly that. While I realize that there is a call in the Bible to spread the gospel, I am not sure that I see medical mission affiliated with that call as being different. I view medical mission work as an acting out of one's faith.

How Do You Like Your Bird?

No, I'm not talking Thanksgiving. I'm definitely not talking turkey. I'm talking the finger. And not just any finger, the middle finger. Today, I inadvertently pulled out in front of a gray headed man in a little blue Volvo. As he swerved past me, he proceeded to flip me off. As we pulled up to the next stop light, I thought of the many ways I could respond. I held back all the obscenities that were spinning through my head as I chuckled to myself thinking this guy must really have a bad temper or maybe he is having a bad day. I then pulled out my right hand and gave him my universal sign. You know, the "peace sign". It's the way I like my bird. Two fingers extended in a "V". I love it. How else is one to communicate while driving recklessly through the streets of middle Tennessee.

I find the sign quite useful. The other day, a young lady cut me off in traffic. As our cars stopped at the next light, I saw her politely mouth, "I'm sorry." I kindly gave her the sign. No, not the finger...the fingerS. The peace sign that is. In church every Sunday, we greet those around us with "Peace be with you" or "The peace of Christ". As it is with many teens, my daughter sits on the very back row on most Sundays. Since some Sundays, I am not near the back row, I like to find her during this greeting. I like to make eye contact and smile and flash her the peace sign in church. It's my way of passing it on.

I know some of my readers are going to have flashbacks to the sixties and the peace symbol on the back of the Volkswagen vans. The days when a hippie might sound a little stoned and give you the peace sign as a statement against the Vietnam war and for a little world peace. Well, I hate to admit it but those stoners of the sixties were on to something, something more than a little LSD and grass. They knew what I know today and that is the fact that we could all use a little peace...especially that gray haired old guy in that blue Volvo.

Happy What...Fall Festival???

I remember the days when my youth group at the First Presbyterian Church in West Memphis, Arkansas would have a haunted house for Halloween. Every year, fellowship hall would be transformed into a scary dungeon. It was always fun and we always had a good time. I'm not sure as a child or teenager that I ever thought of this act as being bad for me or somehow wrong. Today, many churches and organizations continue to perform "Halloween Parties" under different names such as "Fall Festivals". I am not sure that a name really makes a difference in all of these functions. Call it what you want but it is really a "Halloween Party". So in advance of next week, I would like to say, "Happy Halloween" whether you like it or not.

He Made A Life Out Of Giving

Max G. Haynes, M.D. passed away last week. He was a pediatrician in Blytheville, Arkansas. I became acquainted with Dr. Haynes while he was practicing pediatrics in my hometown of West Memphis, Arkansas. I was asked to speak at his funeral and below are my remarks. His healing touch will be missed my many in Eastern Arkansas.

My first encounter with Max G. Haynes came in 1978 at the age of fourteen. My mother took me to his pediatric office in West Memphis, Arkansas because of an illness. His diagnosis, bilateral pneumonia. He was concerned about the severity, but realized that we had no medical insurance at the time. Rather than put me in the hospital, he offered to let me be treated at home so long as my mother and I followed his treatment. It was then and there, that I met Max G. Haynes, M.D., the kind doctor with a gentle heart.

In the summer of 1979, I was getting ready to be a sophomore in high school. I was working at a local car wash, when Max came in to clean his new car. We talked a little and he remembered me as a patient. I shared my interest in medicine as I cleaned out his car. A few days later, I received a phone call from Max saying that his office had a position available filing records and performing other duties. He asked if I would be interested in working part time. Since I had an interest in medicine, I eagerly went to work with Dr. Haynes at Pediatric Associates in West Memphis. This is where I first encountered, Dr. Max G. Haynes, the employer. A fair minded, caring boss, who was always interested in what was going on in the lives of the employees around him.

I worked at Pediatric Associates throughout high school and four years of college. It was during this time that I got to know Max G. Haynes, the friend. The friend who would sit and talk of his experiences in the Air Force as well as two tours as a doctor in Vietnam. A friend who would share details of his medical training at the University of Arkansas medical school. The friend who would share his experiences as a professor at the University of Arkansas med school working in hematology. Max G. Haynes was a friend who always had good advice and a kind word no matter what I was going through.

Throughout the years our friendship continued to grow. I would go on fishing trips with Max and from time to time he would ask me to travel to Blytheville. The purpose of these trips was to help with various tasks around his mother's home. We would build a shed, paint, and on other occasions, we would merely spend time with his mother, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews. Mama Haynes, as his mother was so affectionately known, was an elderly lady, who had raised several children and influenced many. She was known for her southern cooking and her generous heart. It was there in the house of Mama Haynes, that I became acquainted with Max G. Haynes, the family man. A giving man who told me that he knew his mother was not going to be around forever, so he wanted to spend as much time with her and do as much for her as possible.

Max would go on to take in foster children, help others through college, and work with exchange students throughout his life. It was during the early 80's when he decided to adopt one of these foster children, Alex, to be his son. In the early eighties, it was tough for a single man to adopt a child. I remember, Max telling in great detail of the interviews, questioning, and background checks he had to go through to adopt Alex. Those of us who knew Max, knew that he would be a good father. Many of us had already experienced his generosity and kindness. Time and time again, we had been first hand recipients of his fatherly love. In the end, Max prevailed and he adopted a son.

The late tennis star Arthur Ashe, said "From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." This one saying, perhaps, sums up the life of Max G. Haynes…the doctor, the employer, the family man, the father, and Max G. Haynes, the friend. The friend who made a life out of giving.

Wine and Beer at Starbucks...Will It Be In A Cup?

Starbucks is going to take a shot at selling wine and beer. I have to admit that I am intrigued by this. On a recent trip to Paris and Rome, I could not help but observe that the coffee shops all sold wine and beer. Most sold lunches and some of the most delightful desserts on the planet. I could not help but wonder if and when American shops would follow. I love the taste of coffee that has not been tainted by a paper cup and desserts on glass plates.

It's official Starbucks is now getting in on the beer and wine business. I am, however, skeptical that it will succeed. Not because the good people of America don't want alcohol at our coffee shops. In other countries, coffee shops still serve the customer. Waiters and waitresses bring your order to your table and actually converse with you, the customer. In other countries, they serve the coffees in glass cups and give you a good old fashioned glass plate with your lunch or dessert. You will not find paper cups to taint the coffee taste or desserts in a little sack with a napkin like in America. Beers and wines are served in a glass as well.

While I am sure Starbucks has good intentions with this experiment, I can not help but wonder if they will serve the beer in a bottle or better yet, a plastic cup. As I sit at some Starbucks in the near future, I can almost hear my name being called now, "Garry" "Cup of Cabernet" as I walk to the counter to pick up red wine in a plastic cup with my name scribbled on the side. And just like that, Americans will begin their love affair with wine that has a plastic cup taste just like we have fallen for all those coffees that taste like paper cups.