CE at Sea Tropical Destination Seminars

By Academy of Opthalmic Education

AOE was the first to offer and organize COPEapproved CE events on cruise ships. So far we have hosted 14 cruise ship seminars. Holiday, fun, camaraderie and COPE-approved CE. Great way to make friends too. We hope to resume our cruises soon.

Largest On-Line Portal

CE, 24/7, on-demand, anytime, anywhere. AOE always felt that Optometrists did not have easy access to this invaluable source of education. In 2017, we started planning to develop a web-based distance learning or enduring distance learning format fully accredited by COPE and supported by an accredited school of optometry. On the 25th anniversary of AOE on October 25th, 2019, we finally launched our AOE On- Demand (enduring distance learning format). This now enabled AOE to serve the optometric profession across Canada, as a matter of fact, globally.

When COVID-19 hit Canada in 2020, we quickly introduced live interactive webinars on Zoom and kept building our AOE On-Demand portal simultaneously. Many webinars were offered free of charge to help the profession suffering from lockdown induced losses. Looks like live webinars and online distance learning are here to stay. In 2020, 50 hours were offered via live interactive webinars. The largest webinar, on refractive surgery by Dr. Baseer Khan, MD was attended by 1095 attendees.

2020 was a special year. AOE launches its first tropical island CE. This was held from January 24-28, 2020 at the Atlantis Resort in Nassau, Bahamas. The event was well attended and our attendees were looking forward to further events in exotic locations. Once global travel becomes safe and routine, we plan to resume these events - possibly in 2022. Let us keep our fingers crossed.

In 2015, COVD (Canadian Chapter) through Dr. Patrick Quaid, approved AOE to organize a CE course accredited by COPE for Optometrists and Vision Therapists. This two-day weekend was presented in the prestigious learning facilities of Lakeridge Health in Oshawa, Ontario. The event was chaired by Dr. Patrick Quaid and was very well received. After the great success of the first VT course CE event, AOE was again asked to organize and host the annual international meeting of COVD International in Toronto, Ontario. This was planned and offered in November 2017 at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto, Ontario. The annual meeting of the COVD Board of Directors was also hosted. Mr. Khan was invited to the board meeting to discuss and explore a formal structured VT course with an accredited school of optometry, just as AOE had done with TPA. After getting the blessing of the COVD board, AOE started working with Salus University to develop their 100-hour course for formal training of Optometrists and Vision Therapists.

After reaching an agreement with Salus University, AOE and Salus offered the VT course across Canada with weekend didactics and workshops. This course was also well received and was going to be offered in the well-appointed MIT, a part of UHN, in the hospital district of Toronto. Due to the COVID shutdown, this didactic course was quickly modified and offered on Salus University’s e-learning platform. The we labs and clinical workshops will be offered in Philadelphia in 2021 at Salus University’s state-of-the art teaching facilities. Due to popular demand, this course will again be offered online starting January 2022 and the workshops portion will take place in Philadelphia in October 2022.

Another much needed service of education provided to the profession, 2020 was changing the way we live and do business. One of the most important area was educational institutions, universities, colleges, etc. There was sudden and urgent need to have courses and educational materials available online for the students. AOE

decided to offer the access of the CE portal to all students of optometry in Canada and the USA. This was formally accepted by the University of Montreal and Berkley in California and students approached AOE were also given access to this resource.

AOE has been ready and willing to serve the profession under any circumstances. We try level best to keep our costs down as much as possible. In 2020, many webinars were offered “FREE.” For us, it will always be the profession first. However, we are not a huge company with deep pockets. We have to rely on our vendor support and sponsorship funding so that we can keep our costs to the minimum and with your support, we will continue this process.

Despite financial limitations, in 2020 and 2021 we held two webinars and the net proceeds were donated to Seneca College for student support inflicted by COVID related job losses. We raised $7,000.00 in 2020 and $6,000.00 in 2021. We will continue our efforts to support students of Opticianry and Optometry and make their load lighter with financial and resource support.

AOE and Salus University have also announced the launch of their 100-hour comprehensive course on Vision Therapy commencing in January 202. This course is open to Optometrists and their vision therapists. This is our second offering after a very successful first launch in 2020. The course didactics are online and accessible anytime until the end of the course. A wet lab and practical sessions will be held at Salus University’s state-ofthe-art facilities in Pennsylvania. The details of this course are available at aoece.com. Please check our website for information on the course and registration.

As soon as we reach a stable situation with the COVID pandemic, we will resume our famous and very much appreciated Optifair Canada Trade Shows and live events. Tropical events are being planned for 2022 in the Bahamas and Aruba and a fall event on Sorrento, Italy. Coming soon will be modular courses for training your staff and expand the role of Optometric Assistants.

Please register on our portal at aoece.online at no cost and you will be kept current with all the exciting events that are being planned.