CT
Gov. Extends Licensing
Deadline until November
20, 2021
The
good news keeps coming regarding licensing. Connecticut opticians
will not have to renew their licenses until November
20, 2021.
The
deadline extension came with the Extension of Angency and
Municipal Emergency Orders by Gov. Ned Lamont just recently. More
specifically, opticians with licenses current as of March
30,2020, will not need to renew them until six months after the
deadline for the civil
preparedness emergency order. That
date is November 20, 2021.
“Extension
of Agency and Municipal Emergency Orders: Any unexpired order,
rule, regulation, directive or guidance issued by any official,
agency, department, municipality, or entity pursuant to an
unexpired COVID-19 Order, which by its own terms provides that it
shall remain in place for the duration of the public health and
civil preparedness emergency, shall
remain in effect through May 20, 2021,
unless earlier modified or terminated by the issuing authority or
a subsequent executive order.”
Connecticut
Optician
Asks for Your Help
As
an optician with 49 years of experience, Connecticut optician
Bruce Tooker
had
the opportunity to participate in mission trips to Haiti over the
last 3 years that focused on providing free eye examinations and
eyewear to villagers in and around Port-au-Prince. Tooker saw
patients who were losing or had lost their sight because of
cataracts. The villagers, on average, earn less than $2 a day,
making basic of vision care unaffordable and surgery to correct
cataracts impossible.
In
cooperation with Medical
Aid to Haiti, Inc. (MATH www.medicalaidtohaiti.org),
Centre Medico-Chirurgical du Quartier (Neighborhood
Medical-Surgical Clinic) and Société Haïtienne
d'Ophtalmologie (Haitian Society of Ophthalmology) has created a
program that will provide cataract surgery to needy patients. The
cost for surgery is $120 per eye, and a donation of $300 includes
surgery, transportation to and from the hospital, pre-op testing,
and follow-up care.
Tooker
is hoping that you will help 100 of the poorest in villages in
and around Port-au-Prince to regain their vision. Your donation
is tax deductible and your gift of sight will last lifetime. Make
checks payable to MATH Cataract Fund and mail to MATH Cataract
Fund, c/o Medical Aid to Haiti, 80 S. Main St., W. Hartford, CT
06107.
OpticalCEUs
Speaker
Deborah Kotob Named Director of Education
for 20/20
Magazine
In
February of 2018, OpticalCEUs speaker Deborah Kotab was selected
as the director of education for 20/20
magazine. Her duties include creating programs that furthers
the magazine’s education mission for opticians.
OpticalCEUs
founder and speaker Linda Conlin was named managing editor of the
magazine’s Pro to Pro section in late 2017. Contact Linda
to sign up for Pro
to Pro
"Email
Blasts".
Success
Again for OpticalCEUs!!!
19 Years and Going Strong
Scores
of opticians from four corners of the Northeast descended on
Mashantucket, CT, for the annual OpticalCEUs seminar. They met in
the lavish Premier Ballroom of the Fox Tower Hotel and Casino on
the Foxwoods campus. After a day of a fine breakfast, wonderful
hot lunch of choice, and listening to nationally recognized
speakers, they left Mashantucket with seven ABO/NCLE credits that
they could apply to the licenses in Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, and New York.
They
learned how to create a great experience for your patients,
explored the applications for rigid gas permeable contact lenses,
examined the pros and cons of new soft contact lenses, and
learned about the impact of nutrition on the eye and vision.
(OpticalCEUs seminars have always been approved by the licensing
boards of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The
Opticians Alliance of New York is sponsoring credits for New York
State opticians (ID 071317-071220.018).)
OpticalCEUs
Brightens
Spring for 12 Dozen Opticians
It
was a wonderful Spring Sunday Sunday, April 29, at the Foxwoods
Resort and Casino. Some 12 dozen opticians from New York,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire came
the resort location for the 19th
Annual
Continuing Education Seminar by OpticalCEUs. Linda Conlin,
founder of the seminar and OpticalCEUs, praised the opticians for
the pursuit of professionalism in the face of demands within the
industry to deprofessionalize the service that opticians offer
their customers.
The
seven courses, which provided opticians with seven ABO/NCLE
credits, covered the following subjects:
·
Explore
options in new blue filter lens technology
·
Learn
about medications that affect vision
·
Understand
the pros and cons of new soft contact lenses
·
Understand
and experience optical phenomena
OpticalCEUs
Spring
2017
Seminar Ties Record Attendance
An
almost record number of opticians from Connecticut, Rhode Island,
and Massachusetts came to Foxwoods Resort and Casino for
OpticalCEUs Annual Spring Seminar on April 30. They listened as
gifted and knowledgeable speakers Joe Forte, Deborah Kotob of
Vision Ease spoke about the following:
Advise
your patients about the effects of blue light exposure
Review
spectacle lens options and considerations for the correction of
Ametropia and Presbyopia
Provide
top-notch patient care with new technology for specialty
contact lens fitting
Expand
your knowledge of contact lens materials, treatments and their
applications
The
opticians also enjoyed a complimentary breakfast as well as
OpticalCEUs renowned buffet lunch of soup, salads, pulled pork,
and other offerings as well as a wonderful dessert bar.
OpticalCEUs
Fall
2016 Succeeds Again!
Some
twelve dozen opticians from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode
Island attended OpticalCEUs Annual Fall Conference for continuing
education in the Grand Pequot Ballroom, at the Foxwoods Resort
and Casino on October 23. They picked the latest ideas in the
field - from lens technology to reduce blue light exposure to
contact lens fitting for irregular corneas. They listened to the
following presentations:
Just
the Blue Light Facts, Ma’am!
Lensology
– Lens
Basics Review
Become
a Contact Lens Fitter
A
New Approach to Fitting Irregular Corneas
Contact
Lenses – How We Got Here From There
Managing
Ocular Allergies
OpticalCEUs
Spring
Continuing Education Seminar, Draws
Opticians from All Over
New England
Some
150 opticians came to Foxwoods Hotel and Casino to sharpen their
skills,
dusted off
their imaginations,
and picked up the latest optical ideas—from sun lens
technology to specialty contact lenses. It all happened at
OpticalCEUs
Spring
Seminar on April 10 in the Celebrity Ballroom of Foxwood's Fox
Tower (formerly
MGM Grand). In the second level ballroom, they earned
up
to 7 ABO/NCLE credits.OpticalCEU's speakers covered the following
topics:
The
Nature of Light and Its Practical Applications
Explore
the Cornea
Managing
Ocular Allergies & Ocular Surface Disorders with Single Use
Lenses
Specialty
Contact Lenses are Not That Special
Shades
of Green
Lens
Enhancements
Rigid
Gas Permeable Contact Lenses
Linda
Conlin Speaking at CE Meeting for New Hampshire Opticians
Linda
Conlin will speak at the annual
New Hampshire Opticians Conference. The conference will be
held on Oct. 16 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concorde,
NH. She will have presentations on keratonus, the cornea,
malpractice, complications associated with grading contact
lenses.
The
Story of Vision Aired Oct. 13; The Story of Vision eBook
Follows
A
one-hour documentary produced for PBS broadcast and distribution.
The story’s threads will weave the tale of the journey of
humanity that discovered the science; technology and medicine
that allows us to understand how sight works, cure diseases of
the eye and correct vision. Efforts will be made to make this a
co-production with international partners like BBC, NHK, ABC
(Australia) and other international broadcasters."For
more information, click.
People
will also be able to download the eBook or iBook also entitled
The Story of Vision, produced by Mark Mattison-Shupnick,
Jobson’s director of education and training content. Four
articles by Linda Conlin appear in the book.
OpticalCEU
Speaker
Joe Forte
Earns NCLE Masters
Joe
Forte recently earned his NCLE Masters Certificate. The
percussionist and the director of contact lens services for
Greenwich Ophthalmology Associates, Greenwich, CT, has long
served the education needs of opticians. He lectured at CUNY
Tech, Vision Expo and Optifair. He is certified as an Advanced
Level speaker. He was program director of the Interboro Institute
College of Opticianry where he taught courses in various areas of
contact lenses and optics. Joe has been a Fellow of the CLSA
since 1992.
In
order to attain this esteemed status, Joe had to do the following
for NCLE examiners:
The
NCLE Master in Contact Lens Technology designation
demonstrates to the public and colleagues that an individual has
attained a superior level in Contact Lens Technology.... [And he
needed to satisfy the following conditions:]
●Currently
a Fellow of the Contact Lens Society of America (CLSA), or
●Have written two published NCLE-approved
Advanced Level III articles, or
●An
NCLE-approved Speaker with two NCLE-approved Advanced Level III
Courses, or
●Have one published NCLE-approved
Advanced Level III article AND one NCLE-approved Advanced Level
III Course for which you are the NCLE-approved Speaker
Linda
Conlin Teaches in Goodwin
College's Ophthalmic Science
Program
With
the start of the Fall 2015 semester, Linda Conlin is teaching in
the Ophthalmic
Science Program at Goodwin College, E. Hartford.
The
two-year associate degree education tract enables individuals to
learn about opticianry. Working with a dedicated team of eye care
professionals, students learn to design, fit, and dispense
corrective eyeglass and contact lenses in the school's
state-of-the-art optical fabrication laboratory, contact lenses
laboratory, and training store. The program also prepares
students to sit for ABO's and NCLE's exams.
Goodwin
College's Ophthalmic Program Accredited
At
the October 2, 2016 meeting, the Commission on Opticianry
Accreditation (COA) approved accreditation for Goodwin College’s
Ophthalmic Science The program was found to be in compliance with
the Essentials of an Accredited Educational Program for
Opticianry. The accreditation lasts for two years. This
accreditation classification will be in effect retroactive to May
25, 2016 and expiring May 24, 2018. The accreditation status will
include all graduates of the program in 2016. This
accreditation status will be extended to 6 years when the program
is able to demonstrate full compliance with the remaining
potential/non-compliant sections of the Essentials. This is
standard for newly accredited programs.The commissioners said
that they are honored to list the Ophthalmic Science Program at
Goodwin College among its accredited programs.
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