Prospectus
MEMBERSHIP NEWS & UPDATES
VOL. 43 | ISSUE 1 | 2017
NEO Forum Meets at Vision Expo East On Saturday afternoon, April 1, 2017, the NEO Forum met at Vision Expo East to discuss issues of importance to the participating state affiliates.
Issues discussed by the group at its recent meeting at Vison Expo on April 1st included such topics as:
The NEO Forum is composed of twelve states – Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and the state of Ohio.
•• How are states communicating with members across different generations?
Organized with an impetus from the NYSOA over a decade and a half ago, the NEO Forum was created to fill the void when the New England Council of Optometrists and the Northeast Council of Optometrists disbanded and there was no organization left in the Northeast to bring state affiliates together on a regular basis to collaborate on state, regional and national issues. The Ohio Optometric Association joined the group after the North Central Council of Optometrists disbanded at about the same time that the other two regional councils folded. The original focus of the Forum was advocacy and third party issues since many of the states were pursuing scope expansion and a number of the states had similar issues with third party payers who were doing business in the Northeast. The Forum members decided that it would meet three times a year to accomplish several goals – a once-a-year meeting with leaders from the American Optometric Association, a meeting at Optometry’s Meeting to collectively interview candidates for AOA elective offices, and a meeting to share current issues and information.
A Fond Farewell
Dawn Chivers, OD, NYSOA President It has been an honor and a pleasure serving on the board of the NYSOA for the past decade and as NYSOA President this past year. I welcome Dr. Kenneth Sorkin who will be inaugurated as our new President on May 20, 2017. Dr. Sorkin is an amazing leader for our profession and I cannot thank him enough for the incredible support he has given me this past year. Balancing the myriad of changes occurring in the profession of optometry in New York State is a unique
•• How is each state addressing alternative eye-care issues and the separation of refraction from a comprehensive examination? How are states addressing telehealth/telemedicine? •• What are states doing to attract new graduates and young ODs? What are examples of successful programs? •• What scope expansion is being pursued by each state? Chaired by NYSOA President Dawn Chivers, OD, the NYSOA leadership was out in full force for this meeting, including NYSOA President-Elect Ken Sorkin, OD, NYSOA Treasurer Ray Pirozzolo, OD, NYSOA Trustees Fran Reinstein, OD, Aleks Wianecka, OD, Marina Su, OD, and Viola Kanevsky, OD. The respective leaders from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont were also in attendance along with the Executive Director of the American Optometric Student Association and the national elected officers of AOSA.
| Inside | CALL TO ACTION FOR ORALS......................................3 NYSOA JOINS THINK ABOUT YOUR EYES.....................5 NYSOA 122ND ANNUAL MEETING................................9 2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEE ELECTIONS......................10 challenge. The lightning speed of technological changes, disruptive websites and mobile applications contrasted by the glacial pace of modernization in the New York State Legislature on scope of practice concerns renders this a harrowing endeavor with never a dull moment. Both New York State and Massachusetts are on the verge of updating antiquated scope of practice laws after being held up by a small contingent of lawmakers and outside lobbyists for many years. I suspect you are all also tired of hearing about the orals bill so let us get it done this year. We have a plenty of other work to do for our patients and our profession.