Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Happy LASIK Anniversary, Dr. White!

It's been 11 years since Dr. White had LASIK surgery on his eyes! Happy Anniversary, Dr. White!

"LASIK is one of the nicest things I've ever done for myself," he says. "My friend Dr. Dave Hardten (who taught me how to do LASIK!) did my surgery 11 years ago. What a difference!"

Dr. White had worn Gas Permeable (hard) contact lenses for almost 30 years before his LASIK. "I broke 12 pairs of glasses in 12 months playing basketball in Jr. High and my Dad, who made glasses for a living, strongly 'suggested' I try contacts. They got me through all of my sports, including playing football in college."

Like many people who have had LASIK, Dr. White is now wearing reading glasses. He had his surgery at age 39 so he knew that his years of no glasses at all would be short. "I only need to wear my reading glasses in the morning and at night, so I'm STILL glasses-free in the office every day!"

Did you know that the VISX laser is the most widely used LASIK laser in the U.S.? Dr. White actually performed the very first VISX laser LASIK in Cleveland all the way back in 1994!!. Come visit us in Westlake and see if you are a candidate for LASIK. Talk to the doc who has been using the VISX laser longer than anyone else in Cleveland and ask him how HIS eyes are doing!!

Monday, October 25, 2010

An Upturn in Cleveland? Thoughts From Dr. White

Hi! Dr. White here. I thought I'd share some thoughts about our economy here in Cleveland and see if you have any thoughts of your own.

It's pretty clear that our local economy in the Greater Cleveland area failed to recover as completely as the rest of the country after the tragedy of 9/11. Even so, we DID grow between 2003 and 2008, and we were perking along rather nicely, I think. New businesses, some growth in our traditional businesses, and some energy and excitement in Cleveland itself.

Then along came August of 2008 and the collapse of the housing and banking markets nationally, and WHAM! We got socked. It sure felt like we got hit harder and went down further than lots of other places, and that's pretty much what we heard from all of you when you came in for your eye care here in Westlake at Skyvsion Centers.

We're noticing a little change in the conversations, though. Some of our patients who own or run businesses are starting to see juuuuust a little uptick. Some are even hiring folks. My wife and I couldn't make it to the grocery store last week so we ended up going out to dinner on Wednesday and Thursday (we're brand new empty nesters!), and the restaurants were crowded! Mid-week, on the West Side! The wait was so long at the first restaurant on Thursday we actually had to leave an go to another.

These are tiny, little signs for sure. What are YOU seeing? Has our local economy stopped falling, and maybe even started to pick up, even just a little bit?

Let us know. We are all proud to be here for you, Cleveland, and proud to be here IN Cleveland.

Dr. White

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Patient-Centered Medicine

At Skyvision Centers we make every effort to make your experience in our office as pleasant as we possibly can. We have made special efforts to build, decorate, and outfit our main office in Westlake in a way that will make your visit comfortable. Even little things like the type of coffee service we have are the result of many hours of research and study. Did you know that our coffee machines are choices made after 40 hours of research and testing?!

We had a very strange experience at Skyvision yesterday afternoon. One of our new patients complimented us and thanked us for running "on time" and not wasting her day. Great, right? Well, actually every single staff member including the doctors, knew that we were actually 23 minutes behind schedule when we saw that lovely woman, and every single staff member felt bad about that.

We know what you are thinking right now. You're thinking wait a minute...23 minutes? Exactly 23 minutes? Not only did everyone know that they were running behind, but everyone knew it was 23 minutes? And everyone cared?! How does THAT happen?

We "time stamp" everything that occurs in our office so that we are aware of how long your visit is taking. We look at our overall results, too. We recently hired an additional technician and opened a new examination room when we found that our patients were starting to spend a little longer in the office. And now we are back to being "on time"! We know that your time is very valuable and we are fanatics about trying not to waste even a minute.

Skyvision Centers is a true "Patient-Centered" medical practice. We try, REALLY try to give you the best possible medical outcome at the same time that you have the best possible experience in our office, and we are constantly measuring to see that we do!