We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amalia Picus-Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amalia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
My favorite part about my job is that I get so spend so much time with my patients. Patients who come seeing vision therapy are seeking somebody who will take the time to look deeper at the challenges they are having and simply listen. I love getting to know my patients over the months that we work together and the spontaneous hugs, tears and shows of affection we get once we have completed our work and reached the goals we set are worth all of the struggles along the way. There isn’t just one story to tell–every single patient I have worked with over the past 10 years has taught me something new about the way I practice developmental optometry and the profound difference it can make in people’s life. One story stands out in particular–a story that highlights how important taking the time to listen can be.
I had a patient recently who was at the office to purchase glasses. I had not seen this patient prior, but our optician flagged the outside prescription as something he wanted the doctor to see prior to filling. Complicated prescriptions can be tough and a quick refraction or consult with the doctor can easily avoid remakes. The doctor pulled me in on a consult and as I began questioning and listening to this patient’s history and story, something didn’t sit right with me. I called the patient’s primary care physician, and got him in for a CT scan the following day. Turns out the patient was having symptoms of multiple sclerosis and the previous doctor’s had not caught it.
The patient let me know once he started treatment that since we caught the MS early, his prognosis was very good. Since starting treatment, his symptoms had started to resolve. He thanked me for taking the time to pay attention, think outside the box and spend my own time trying to get him the care he needed on a holiday weekend.
Knowing that I was able to have such a profound affect on another person’s life makes me deeply grateful and lucky to do what I do.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a trained optometrist who specializes in the treatment of binocular vision disorders, rehabilitation from the visual sequelae from brain injuries and vision related learning disorders. I use lenses, prisms and vision therapy to achieve concrete, therapeutic functional goals to improve the quality of life for my patients.
Vision therapy is designed to teach the child how the brain controls the eyes the brain, develop or strengthen visual skills and abilities and change or retrain a child’s visual system to interpret visual input with increased accuracy and ease.
Pediatric vision therapy is non-surgical and drug-free and involves a series of in-office and at home exercises performed over weeks or months and may rely on training glasses, prisms, filters, patches, balance boards or even video games. It is like physical therapy for the eyes.
We have a small practice and pride ourselves on having a quiet office and the ability to accommodate developmental needs of all types.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
On 25th, 2017 Hurricane Harvey parked itself over Houston and dropped billions of gallons of water onto the greater Houston area. I was at home with my son and husband, when I got a call from my neighbor at the office saying that he had 4 feet of water in the office. I started to panic, as I had no way of verifying if our office had the same. Once the waters subsided, I was about to get to my office and discovered that our office had been flooded with 4 feet of water. With the help of my family, I cleaned out and salvaged what I could and was “officeless” for the next 8 months. A patient graciously offered us the use of their CrossFit gym for a few hours a day as a place to conduct our therapy sessions (turns out that was a great space to use!) and I became a traveling optometrist. I did all of my exams, evaluations and some therapy sessions in patient’s homes. It was a very unique experience, as I quickly learned that one doesn’t not need all of the fancy gadgets to do good vision therapy and good optometry. I had colleagues who didn’t flood so I was able to refer when the situation required it.
My business survived and we moved back in 2 months after my second child was born. The experience is not one I want to repeat, but I learned that I was able to think creatively and outside of the box in order to save something I love.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
If I could go back, I would still choose optometry. I decided on optometry when I was in high school. I went to the Michael E. Debakey High School for Health Professions, which is a magnet school that focuses on the health professions. As Juniors, we were sent out into the various hospitals and clinics to get a taste of what working in healthcare was like. I had experience in the hospitals and the lab and quickly learned that being on the hospital floor did not match my temperament. As seniors, we were able to request fields to explore more. I wanted to go into otolaryngology (ENT), but I was instead placed in ophthalmology, much to my dismay. Still, I didn’t have a choice. I had been wearing glasses for 10 years, so I was not unfamiliar with the idea. I was dropped off at the Herman Eye Center (Now the Cizik Eye Clinic). I very clearly remember sitting on a bench in the office waiting for someone to tell me what to do or where to go! The ophthalmologist was in surgery so a 4th year optometry student came out and had me follow her around. I followed her into the first patient room and sat in a corner, watching and listening. As soon as she started refracting, I knew right then and there I was going to be an optometrist. Listening to the clicks of the phoropter and the satisfaction in the patient and the doctor’s voices when 20/20 was reached was magic.
Once I made this decision, I started looking for jobs post graduation in eye care. I worked for Dr. Malcom Mazow, a pediatric ophthalmologist for 4 years as a scribe during college. I learned from him (inadvertently because I don’t think he ever through I would end up in vision therapy!) that strabismus is not well treated by surgery. There was a missing link somewhere and vision therapy (as I would learn later in school) was that link.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thevisionlearningcenter.com
- Instagram: @vlcchampions
- Linkedin: Amalia Davis, OD