by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Dr. Tiffany Owens has two primary goals in mind for the Low Vision Center of Northeast Florida: improve the vision of senior citizens suffering from macular degeneration and eventually become a self-sustaining entity.
Open a little more than two years, one happens on a nearly daily basis and the other may be about two years down the road.
Owens runs a four-person office that consists of therapist/marketer Kim Rigdon, Casey Leatherman and Monica Harris. Together, the four see at most six patients a day and use the most modern equipment available to help diagnose and treat their patients’ vision problem. The office is a two-story converted, 100 year-old home on Riverside Avenue across from St. Vincent’s Hospital. While the restored home is beautiful with its redone floors and walls, at 100 years old, there is one noticeable problem: the house/office isn’t flat.
“If you lift your legs, your chair will roll,” said Owens.
While the equipment isn’t affected by the floor, just standing in a room you can’t help notice the western wall of the house is significantly higher than the eastern end. You also can’t help but notice all of the equipment, from low-tech magnifying glasses and oversized remote controls to a drawer full of dozens of various strength lenses, all designed to help improve the vision of senior citizens to the best possible extent.
The Low Vision Center opened its doors in January 2006 and has seen its clientele climb steadily since. The non-profit 501(c)3 is funded entirely by the Eye Research Foundation, but Owens said she would like to see the day the office has enough patients and generates enough revenue to be self-sufficient.
“There’s room for more,” said Owens of the current patient base that comes mostly from referrals from opthalmologists and retina specialists.
The office will only see six patients a day due to the one- to two-hour exams and the average patient age is around 70. Most get to the office through rides from family or friends or the JTA’s Connexion service.
“Some drive, though,” said Harris.
Rigdon has been with the Center since day one. She helped find the building and buy the equipment and office furniture. In addition to being the therapist, Rigdon is also the Center’s primary marketer.