eyelites - qudock 2012...eyelites winter 2012/2013 opticians association of washington p.o.box 2489...

EYELITES Winter 2012/2013

Opticians Association of Washington

P.O.Box 2489Yakima, Wa

509-961-4169509-469-2134 FAX

www.OAW.org

Presidential Report Pg 2

Fundraising Report Pg 4

Proposed Rule Changes Pg 5

A Word from the OAW Executive Director Pg 6

Lynn Coff man, LDO, past OAW President and long-time contact lens specialist and

opticianry educator, has been presented the Dennis Tilley Educator of the Year Award for 2012 by the NFOS (Na-tional Federation of Opticianry Schools). Th is prestigious, coveted award is given to the top educator in opticianry once per year, and Lynn certainly deserves it� She was nominated by a fellow educator, Christiaan J. van Vliet, LDO. Th e following is his nomination letter:�I nominate Lynn Coff man from Seattle Central Community College School of Opticianry for Educator of the Year. Lynn teaches dispensing classes to fi rst year students as well as business and contact lens technology classes to second year students. Her tireless dedication to her students has resulted not only in a very high pass rate for the NCLE and Washington State Boards, but in excellent employment opportunities for her students.

EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

Lynn’s students graduate from our program as �pre-trained� opticians with an understanding of all aspects of dispensary operations, including contact lenses. Not only is Lynn dedicated on the educational side, but she works tirelessly to promote our program, obtain much needed equipment, and network with those in the profession in order to present the newest in technology to our students. Lynn does much more than teach; never has she ever said, �Th at’s not in my job description.� She cares deeply about her students, our program, and the long-term success of both.�

� ank You’s Pg 7

Multimedia Report Pg 9

As this year’s OAW president, I’ve been continually amazed by the energy, resourcefulness and dedication of not only our board, but the OAW membership. I was recently asked, �Do I have to be on the board to serve on a committee�� Th e answer is absolutely not� Whether your interests are in education, fundraising, social media, etc, please contact me or any other board member for a complete list of committees that could use your help. Th e OAW website is a great re-source for Washington’s Opticians. Convention info, CE’s, chapter meetings and job listings can all be easily found, I encourage you to check it out�

Th e board is currently hard at work to bring you a spectacular spring convention at Little Creek Casino in Shelton. Th e trade show is a great opportunity to network and to discover the latest trends and technology. Details are being fi nalized; watch the website for more information as they become available. Th ank you for supporting our association,

Ron SwengelOAW President

PRESIDENTIAL REPORT

Pg 2

OPTICIAN’S ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON

As this year’s OAW president, I’ve been continually amazed by the energy, resourcefulness and dedication of not only our board, but the OAW membership. I was recently asked, �Do I have to be on the board to serve on a committee�� Th e answer is absolutely not� Whether your interests are in education, fundraising, social media, etc, please contact me or any other board member for a complete list of committees that could use

Th e OAW website is a great re-source for Washington’s Opticians. Convention info, CE’s, chapter meetings and job listings can all be easily found, I encourage you to check it out�

Th e board is currently hard at work to bring you a spectacular spring convention at Little Creek Casino in Shelton. Th e trade show is a great opportunity to network and to discover the latest trends and technology. Details are being fi nalized; watch the website for more information as they become available. Th ank you for supporting our association,

Ron SwengelOAW President

Pg 3


A Great BIG Th ank you for all of your support� With your attendance and support, we once again had a successful Fall Convention� We had great speakers, we had good food, we got to catch up with friends, OH and we Raised some MONEY�We tried something diff erent with our Chapter Baskets this convention. Th e Mystery Box idea seemed to do pretty good� We all had a good time bidding on the best wrapped box and then we were excited to see what was in it� I would love to hear your opinion on how everyone liked the Mystery Box Silent Auction.

See you in SHELTON�Connie Beckman, OAW Board Member/Fund Raising Chair

If everyone could just send me a quick email at:[email protected] YES, I liked the Mystery BoxOr NO, I like to see what I am bidding onTh is way we will know if we should do it again.On to the NEXT Convention, Spring 2013 will be in Shelton� We already have some fun ideas rolling around for fund raising. I welcome any new ideas, please feel free to contact me� Th ings to look forward to…. Maybe some Black Jack during happy hour, 50/50 raffl e at the Poker Table� Th ese are just some ideas…. Whatever we do, we will surely have fun�

Pg 4

FUNDRAISING REPORT


attendance and support, we once again had a successful Fall Convention� We had great speakers, we had good food, we got to catch up with friends, OH and we Raised some MONEY�We tried something diff erent with our Chapter Baskets this convention. Th e Mystery Box idea seemed to do pretty good� We all had a good time bidding on the best wrapped box and then we were excited to see what was in it� I would love to hear your opinion on how everyone liked the Mystery Box Silent Auction.

See you in SHELTON�Connie Beckman, OAW Board Member/Fund Raising Chair

[email protected] YES, I liked the Mystery BoxOr NO, I like to see what I am bidding onTh is way we will know if we should do it again.On to the NEXT Convention, Spring 2013 will be in Shelton� We already have some fun ideas rolling around for fund raising. I welcome any new ideas, please feel free to contact me� Th ings to look forward to…. Maybe some Black Jack during happy hour, 50/50 raffl e at the Poker Table� Th ese are just some ideas…. Whatever we do, we will surely have fun�

� ere is a proposed change to the rules governing the frequency of continuing education credit reporting. At present, the rule is 30 CEs in a three year period, to be renewed on your birthday, with a minimum of 15 CEs being NCLE. � e proposal will not change that total or the NCLE requirement. What will change is the reporting period. It will be 10 CEs per year, again renewed on your birthday, with a minimum of 5 CEs being NCLE. � is rule change is supported by the Opticians Association of Washington for two reasons.

� e optical industry, and especially the lens design element of it, is changing so rapidly that education to keep abreast of current technology needs to be updated more o� en than every three years. We realize that many opticians wait until the last year to acquire their 30 CEs. And, secondly, for those few who fall behind in the pursuit of CEs, it will be much easier to “make up” 10 CEs than 30. � e change will not open our law in the legislature; it will just be an adjustment of the rules implementing the law.

It will take 3 years to totally a� ect all optician licensees. A� er it’s in ef-fect, you’ll � nd a checkbox on your license renewal asking if you’ve met the 10 CE yearly requirement. And, just as now, there will be only a random check asking for a copy of those CE’s.

Questions about the new rule change? Please email our Legislative Director, Diane Charles at [email protected]

Pg 5

PROPOSED CONTINUING EDUCATION RULE CHANGE


ww w. OA W. or g

We have had a very exciting year with the launch of our new website. We are finally up to date with the newer technology. A big thank you goes to Heidi Della Pesca, our web designer. She launched us

into a very sophisticated website that we will not out-grow, for which I am very thankful. We currently have the firm foundation laid down and the board is very active to facilitate the updating and keeping it current and relevant. As with all new jobs it’s been very challenging to teach opticians web design maintenance and input, but we are well on the road to meet the new demands.As you may have seen our new email blasts are coming from a company called Constant Contacts. They have been wonderful to work with to bring you all the latest jobs and chapter meetings in a mass email. I have to say I’m absolutely in love with the new system, and it’s one more avenue to keep you all in touch. If you have a new email address please share it with us to keep you informed.

I would like to extend warm wishes to each of you and your families for a very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year. I’m looking forward to working with you and meeting the new challenges we have before us in our progressive industry.

Warm WishesDonna Hatch LDO HFOAAExecutive Director

C�n�r�� Op�ic��

Es��ba�� Op��

I�E Te��

S��k�

A��

Na�i�n�� Vi�i��

S�n�� Vi�i�� E��es�

Vi�i�� Cr��

W��m�� Op�ic��

Pg 7


Aspex Eyewear Classique Eyewear

ClearvisionEuropa International

EschenbachHilco

Hoya SeattleIce Tech

Jorgenson Optical Supply Marchon Eyewear

Maui JimNational VisionNouveau Vision

OAWPeninsula Optical

Prodesign Seattle Community

College of OpticianryRed Lion Inn

Seiko EyewearShamir

Single Vision ExpressVision Cra�

Vision NorthwestWalman Optical

Wildhorse CasinoYounger

Zeiss

Buddy RussellBeth Showalter

Doug EschbaughMile Brujic

Angela LehmkuhlePaul Wohlhueter

Pam Benson-Gibson

C�n�r�� C�n�r�� Op�ic��Op�ic��

Es��ba�� Es��ba�� Op��Op��

I�E Te��I�E Te��

S��k�S��k�

A��

Na�i�n�� Na�i�n�� Vi�i��Vi�i��

S�n�� Vi�i�� S�n�� Vi�i�� E��es�E��es�

Vi�i�� Cr�� Vi�i�� Cr��

W��m�� W��m�� Op�ic��Op�ic��

EschenbachHilco

Hoya SeattleIce Tech

Jorgenson Optical Supply Marchon Eyewear

Maui JimNational VisionNouveau Vision

OAWPeninsula Optical

Prodesign Seattle Community

College of OpticianryRed Lion Inn

Seiko EyewearShamir

Single Vision ExpressVision Cra�

Vision NorthwestWalman Optical

Paul WohlhueterPam Benson-Gibson

ww w. OA W. or g

Pg 8


Pg 9


A great time was had by all at the Fall Convention in Pasco. Especially the bowling; I don’t think Earl Anthony is too worried about the competition! � e only real danger we faced was permanently hurting the stomach muscles from laughing too hard. We’ve actually been discussing having a Wii bowling tournament next time. I know it would bring my score up!

A� er ten years as your webmaster, I’ve stepped down from that position. Donna Hatch has taken over some of the job, due to new so� ware that allows her to target speci� c segments of our email database, as well as allowing us to customize surveys to our members. Donna is also handling the Classi� ed ads, a position we hope to hand o� to a board member in April.

Heidi Adams has graciously agreed to become Donna’s “apprentice” to help spread the load. (We call her HeidiLou to lessen the confusion between her and our other Heidi, the website provider Heidi Pesca.) However, we are still keeping an eye out for any optician who is computer and web savvy, who’s fair at spelling and grammar, and who’s willing to put in an hour or so of work for the OAW every day.

Ti� any Tolle-Meyer is continuing her role as Eyelites Editor, with some red-pen help from Kelly Shaw and me. � at’s a job I equate to herding cats; most people in this area of the world think deadline is a slug killer. It was a privileged honor to have served you as webmaster for the last ten years. I’ve come to know so many of you, I sort of feel the OAW is my second family. In any case, I feel much more prepared to become your President next year due to the experience gained throughout those years.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and hope to see you next year at Little Creek Casino & Re-sort in Shelton for Spring Conven-tion!

MULTIMEDIA REPORT

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT & FORMER MULTIMEDIA CHAIR

Tim Alden

Pg 10

Please visit our website at www.OAW.org for all job postings, online Convention registration, dues payments, calendar of events and more.

Th ank you for supporting the Optician’s Association of Washington�


eyelites - qudock 2012...eyelites winter 2012/2013 opticians association of washington p.o.box 2489...

Documents