Eye care and the ‘Wow!’ factor

Doctors help patients see more clearly

By Amie Steffen | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, February 26, 2007

From eye exams to prescribing glasses and contacts, from pre-op and post-op treatment after Lasik surgeries to treating eye disease, the husband and wife optometric team of Christine and Mark Olmsted definitely earn their keep.

And they employ no assistants, save for one part-time receptionist.

“We work hard,” Mark said.

A prime example of that is the twin beds in the basement, which Christine said were used when their little kids, now 14 and 16, got sick.

Both her and Mark had to come to work anyhow, since they made up the staff, so the boys would recuperate comfortably nearby while the Olmsteds tended to their appointments — nearly 14 per day between the two of them.

“That’s about all we can handle,” Christine said.

They certainly do work hard, but that’s because they’ve got a reputation to uphold. The Fergus Falls Optometric Center was founded over a century ago, in 1902, though the Olmsteds haven’t been working quite that long.

“We’re the fourth set of hands,” Mark said. “It’ll be 18 years (on) July 1.”

Both doctors knew they wanted to go into the field at an early age, though Christine knew a bit earlier than most — around the same time that children wanted to be cowboys and cops.

“In first grade, they asked what you want to do, and I knew I wanted to be an optometrist,” she said.

Mark, on the other hand, came into optometry because he liked science and math, but hated the messiness of other types of medicine.

“It’s the cleanest doctor job I can think of,” he said. “No blood, no sticking stuff in mouths, and not a lot of life-and-death situations.”

There are, however, situations that arise in the field of optometry. Some of the more serious situations, like tumors, are usually indicative of larger problems, such as brain cancer or AIDS that has spread to the vision field.

But most are easily-treatable diseases, such as diagnosing and treating glaucoma, eye infections or retina detachment.

Though no one in town does Lasik procedures, cataracts or surgery for cytomegalo virus, patients are referred up to Fargo for treatment with ease: With new technology, the Olmsteds simply send electronic photos and patient files to those doctors.

Like other husband-wife practices, the Olmsteds met while in college. Both were attending the Illinois College of Optometry — he was in his fourth year, and she was just starting out in her first year.

Twenty years ago, there were slim pickings as far as dates at optometry schools because women didn’t make up a sizeable percentage of the students, Mark said. Now, however, women often outnumber men at the approximately 17 optometry colleges across the nation.

“People are more aware of the field now,” Christine said.

The pair are licensed individually in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, and settled in Fergus Falls because it was between Christine’s family in Wisconsin and Mark’s in North Dakota.

“We kind of shot the middle,” Mark said.

They treat patients from 4 years old to older than 100, but there’s nothing quite like someone who didn’t know how well they could see before coming in.

“When they put on their glasses the first time, they’re like, ‘Wow!’” Christine said.