George E. Foster
Passionate About Providing High-Quality Vision Care to
Everyone
Dr. George
Foster, Musokogee/Creek, is passionate about preventing
blindness and providing high-quality vision care to all
people. During the first, almost 30 years, of his career,
he provided direct vision care to people in his own
community. Since 1997, as dean of the Northeastern State
University Oklahoma College of Optometry, he has provided
leadership in preparing future optometrists. Working
collaboratively with the Cherokee Nation and other
community and university leaders, he and his colleagues
created a curriculum that not only provides rich clinical
experiences for the students but also helps to provide much
needed vision care services for a largely American Indian
population of about 90,000 people.
Foster still provides some direct patient care when he
covers for colleagues at the clinics. His busy
administrative life, however, doesn’t allow for time for
regular patient care. Although he misses practice, he says,
“It’s a real joy to be around the students and the
outstanding faculty.”
A
Full Plate
One
of the many ways in which Foster interacts with students is
by teaching two courses. In the communication skills course
for first-year students, he focuses on the care of children
and Elders and on the care of people with special
challenges. He also helps his students understand
traditional Native American patients. “We talk about
empathy and how to put yourself in the moccasins of your
patients,” he says. “We talk about getting on the same
wavelength with our patients. We talk about eye contact,
body language and the physical distance between doctor and
patient.”
Foster also teaches public health to third-year students.
“I give them the bigger picture and how patient care isn’t
just about examining eyes. For example, I encourage them to
work with their county and state health departments. We
talk about working with community health centers and Head
Start.”
Deciding on a Career
“When I was
young I knew that I had strengths in social studies and in
biological sciences,” says Foster. “During my undergraduate
years at Northeastern State University I looked at
dentistry, medicine, podiatry etc. and decided what I
didn’t want to do. I eventually decided on optometry.”
Northeastern
did not have a school of optometry in the mid 1960s so
Foster earned his doctor of optometry degree at the
University of Houston in Texas. Foster reports that his
wife put him through school, a gift for which he has always
been grateful.
Private Practitioner
Upon graduation
in 1968, Foster joined a private practice in Bristow
Oklahoma. The next year as part of the “doctors’ draft”, he
was sent to a remote town in Maine. “I had 15,000 people to
take care of, and I was the only optometrist within 500
miles,” he recalls. Foster says that the experience was
like a residency program: “I’d see a problem that was new
to me and run to the library to read about it or I’d phone
for help.”
After completing two years of service, Foster and his
family returned to Bristow where for almost 30 years he
took care of five generations of people. The joy of caring
for multiple generations of people and the responsibility
of caring for people from birth to death are two things
that Foster likes to share with his students.
Foster says that he was always on call but because of the
nature of optometry, he seldom had to provide after hours
care more than once or twice a week. “Overall I had control
over my life. This meant I could be active in the community
as a school board member, a chamber of commerce member and
a church member.”
Foster was also active in the Oklahoma Association of
Optometric Physicians and served as its president in
1980-1981. In addition, he was secretary-treasurer of the
Oklahoma State Board of Examiners and a member of the
Accreditation Council on Optometric Education. In 1989 the
National American Optometric Association honored him as
“Optometrist of the Year.”
A New Adventure
In 1997, the
president of Northeastern State University asked Foster if
he would serve as interim dean for six to nine months.
Foster agreed. “My daughter is an optometrist. She was
working with an ophthalmologist in Tulsa but agreed to take
over for me for the interim period.
“Six months
after I starting working as interim dean, I visited Bristow
and on Sunday went back to the café where everyone in town
eats after church. People said they missed me but they also
told me how well my daughter was doing. Some people said
that she gave them the best eye exam they’ve ever had!”
Foster was and still is very proud of his daughter, Dr.
Kathleen Elliott, who eventually took over his practice.
Advice
Foster says
that future optometrists have to have a sense of calling
and a commitment to providing their patients and their
community with a lifetime of vision care. He doesn’t
believe that applicants need to have straight As, but they
need to be ready to work hard. He strongly encourages them
to shadow an optometrist so they are clear about the
optometric physician’s scope of work.
See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekUwwi2_Kc4
This
article was originally published in the Summer 2008 issue
of
Winds of Change.
The cover artist, Brent Greenwood, Chicakasaw/Ponca, lives
in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Update
Dr.
Foster retired in January, 2009.