Northeastern State University
Oklahoma College of Optometry
Educating Optometrists and Caring for Indian People
Dr.
George
Foster,
Muskogee/Creek, Dean [now Dean Emeritus] of Northeastern
State University Oklahoma College of Optometry (NSUOCO),
is proud of the fact that his school has graduated more
than half of the American Indian optometrists who are
currently in practice. He is also quick to let you know
that the national accrediting body for schools of
optometry has judged NSUOCO to be the premier clinical
training optometry program in the nation.
Thanks to what Foster describes as a “symbiotic”
relationship between NSUOCO, the Cherokee Nation and
Oklahoma Higher Education, NSUOCO optometry students have
rich opportunities to develop and enhance their skills as
they care for patients at W.W. Hastings Indian Medical
Center. They also care for patients at the clinic on the
NSUOCO campus and in rural clinics of the Cherokee Nation.
Together students and their faculty supervisors have more
than 40,000 patient visits/encounters each year.
Today all the people in northeastern Oklahoma have access
to eye care. In the not too distant past, though, too many
of these people suffered greatly from lack of eye care.
Foster remembers that when he received his bachelor’s
degree from NSU in 1965, the College of Optometry did not
exist, and eye care services were scarce. “Many Native
Americans in this area, particularly in rural communities,
had never had their eyes examined,” he says. “People were
going blind from preventable eye diseases, such as glaucoma
and diabetic retinopathy. Children needing vision care had
trouble in school. Adults needing glasses couldn’t read.”
Fighting for a Much Needed Clinic
In the late 1970s, because of the urgent need for eye care,
Chief Ross Swimmer of the Cherokee Nation and Mayor Tony
Stockton of Tahlequah decided that an optometry clinic
should be included in the new building that was being
constructed to replace the W.W. Hastings Indian Health
Center in Tahlequah. However, legislators in Washington
refused to fund an optometry clinic.
Defeat was not acceptable. Foster recalls, “The day before
a congressional committee was due to visit Hastings
Hospital, the hospital administrator, Bill Thorne, let word
out that any Native American who needed an eye exam should
get in line at Hastings Hospital the next day.”
Foster continues, “When the congressional committee drove
into Tahlequah and saw a huge long line of people, they
asked, ‘What are these people doing?’ The committee was
told these people were coming to have their eyes examined.
Someone added, ‘You should have been here yesterday. The
crowd was even bigger!’ So the committee funded extra space
for eye care in the hospital.”
Completed in 1981, the optometry clinic at Hastings
Hospital made a positive difference, particularly for
people who lived near the hospital. But after the School of
Optometry was established in 1979, the faculty and others
were aware that too many people in remote areas were still
not getting the care they needed.
The Tribes Step In
When
the Cherokee Nation realized that access was an issue, they
took many steps that resulted in establishing health and
eye care programs in all of its rural clinics. Today a
NSUOCO faculty person is at each clinic, and third and
fourth year students rotate through the clinics on a
regular basis. In order to provide the complete scope of
eye care for the Cherokee Nation and to educate students,
NSUOCO faculty and staff also include an ophthalmologist,
opticians and technicians.
Early
Patient Care Experiences
Foster describes the curriculum at NSUOCO in this way. “The
first two years are primarily classroom-based and the third
and fourth years primarily clinical. However, because of
our volume of patients and the rich variety of clinical
experiences, we can start exposing students to clinical
experiences early on.”
After completing an optometric clinical methods course in
the first semester, students can begin participating in
supervised clinical vision screenings. As they progress in
their studies, students, under the supervision of clinical
faculty, become increasingly involved in examining
patients, diagnosing their problems and developing and
carrying out treatment plans. They also perform minor
surgical procedures.
Foster says that one of the strengths of the program is
that students are exposed to the complete medical record,
providing them with a more wholistic view of their
patients. The clinics are all part of the Indian Health
Service and the Cherokee Nation Health Services, so when
students are caring for patients, they aren’t limited to
just information about the patients’ eyes.
“Our classes are small, and the atmosphere is nurturing
versus competitive,” says Foster. “We don’t sign students
up and then try to eliminate 20 percent of them. We
emphasize service and teamwork with other health care
providers to achieve our goals. We also try to instill in
our students the idea that their job is to take care of the
visual needs of their patients from infancy through their
elder years.”
Foster estimates that roughly 95% of the patients who are
cared for by the faculty, students and residents are
American Indian. About 20% of the faculty are American
Indian, and about 10% of the students are American Indian.
The majority of the 52 American Indian NSUOCO graduates are
in private practice providing primary eye care services.
Four of the graduates are assistant professors at NSUOCO.
Three of these assistant professors care for patients and
supervise students in Cherokee Nation health care
facilities. Another graduate of NSUOCO is a professor of
optometry at Pacific University College of Optometry. Three
other graduates provide care with the U.S. Public Health
Service. Two care for people in the Choctaw National Health
Services facilities.
Residency Program
Northeastern
State University Oklahoma College of Optometry also has a
one-year postgraduate residency program. Currently there
are 13 residents. “We recruit the best and brightest from
across the country,” says Foster. “Typically residents want
to develop expertise in specialty areas, for example in
vision training or in contact lenses.” Depending on their
interests, residents work in such settings as veteran
administration hospitals and co-management centers where
they work with ophthalmologists in the care of patients
with complex problems.
For More Information
To learn about
all of the certified doctoral optometry programs in the
United States visit the website of the Association of Schools and College of
Optometry and
Resources.
More information about the NSUOCO optometry and residency
programs is available at the NSUOCO website. Note that
applicants to the doctoral (O.D.) program are limited to
residents of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado,
Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Nebraska.
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.