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The mission of Prevent Blindness Texas is to prevent blindness and preserve sight. We are leaders and change agents in the eye health space here to empower you!
Hey, it's your eye health experts, Prevent Blindness Texas, and welcome to Eyespiring, a conversation about all things vision and life. Hi, and welcome to this episode of Eyespiring. I'm your host, Heather Patrick, the CEO of Prevent Blindness Texas. Today, I am super excited about our guest, Dr. Jennifer Deakins.
Heather Patrick:I'm going to tell you a little bit about her, and then I'm going to hand it over and let her give some real details about who she is and a little bit of insight of why she does this work, then we'll jump in and talk all things eye health.
Heather Patrick:Dr. Jennifer Deakins is a co director of the Community Eye Clinic in Fort Worth, which is an indigent care clinic that trains fourth year optometry students and ocular disease residents. She is a clinical associate professor with the University of Houston College of Optometry. She is a graduate of the University of Houston College of Optometry and completed an ocular disease residency at Cedar Springs Eye Clinic.
Heather Patrick:She currently serves on the board of directors for the Alcon Children's Vision Center. She is the legislative chair of the Texas Optometric Association, past president of the TOA, and serves on several committees for the American Optometric Association. With that, Dr. Deakins, tell us a little about, give us your life story in two minutes. Tell us a little bit more about you.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Yeah. Thank you, Heather. Honored to be with you guys today. So excited to collaborate in so many ways with Prevent Blindness Texas, so thank you for the opportunity to share with your audience on this great podcast. I feel like you did a great job.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:That's my career encompassing. Probably my MO in life and career is to build bridges and build relationships. So when you reach out naturally in that collaborative nature, good things start to happen. And I've been very blessed to be a part of some really great efforts in my career and in optometry, So happy to be at the table. I didn't have real clear plans for my career in the beginning, but a lot of great people opened doors for me and saying yes and standing up and raising my hand, even if I didn't quite know what I was getting into, led to some great things.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Really proud to be at this moment in my career, and keep forging relationships and paths forward in many ways for public health and eye care and optometry and our patients.
Heather Patrick:Awesome, so let's dive into that. So what drew you to optometry? What drew you into that?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I always knew eye care, well I always knew health care was going to be somewhere deep seated inside of me. And from a young age, if somebody told me something was sort of off the beaten path or a little too challenging or nobody does that, that's what I was gravitated towards so I was sort of like let me prove the naysayers wrong. I did grow up seeing two amazing optometrists from the ages of 18. That was Drs. Mark and Cheryl Pickering who are in Houston and I think Cheryl's retiring this week.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So I grew up in the optometry world, and I knew that could be a possibility. And when I knew no one else was doing it, I said, let me go down that path and forge that path. When I saw them, particularly in optometry, caring very thoroughly for their patients and building these generational relationships with their patients and their families, they have these deep meaningful interactions with their patients every day, that drew me in. I might have shadowed a few other health care providers, but optometry was fully unique, and they were unique in that respect. So I knew every day at work had purpose, and I thought, I could do that.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I could sustain that for a career and a lifestyle. One funny story about wanting to do things nobody else wanted to do, I was in middle school band and there were all these instruments you could pick from and they said, there's the oboe, right? Nobody plays that. It's too hard. It sounds weird and so of course I raised my hand to play the oboe and I don't play it anymore but it was quite an excursion so that was something that I if I was challenged by someone I was happy to take that on and that's kind of how optometry came about.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:The last thing that solidified eye care for me was I was able to intern with Orbis, which is the flying eye hospital program. They have a DC-ten and they have a teaching eye surgery hospital inside the plane and they fly over all over the world. And so I was able to intern with them in Uzbekistan in high school and that just gelled together for me. I knew that was it, so I came back and really focused my career on optometry, and entered a great family as such. So that was my path in ocular disease.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I love the puzzle. I love the challenge, and can make an impact in people's lives in so many ways. So I was able to focus on that through my extended training.
Heather Patrick:That's amazing. All right, so it sounds like you may have answered this a little bit, but let's dive in a little deeper. What do you think, what decision most shaped you in your career? And I'm like can you look back and say it was that. It was that moment that I knew what kind of optometrist I wanted to be. It sounds like yes but dive a little deeper into that.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Absolutely. I think moments culminate to each other, but I think the decision that I made to complete a residency with some particular instructors and mentors really changed the path for me, opened doors I didn't know. So residency in optometry is an optional program and it's a specialization after your four years of optometric education. You have to take the hit and say, Okay, I'll forgo a little bit of salary, and I'll study some more and study harder and learn underneath some mentors. And I did that not only to build my clinical skills, but I studied under some amazing advocates who poured their heart and soul into the profession and to what was right for their patients.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So Dr. Joe Deloach was supervising me right above me in residency, and that decision just opened all the subsequent doors. And he's an advocate not only for the profession, but anyone that he takes under his wing. And oddly enough, that geographical decision opened the door to my husband and then my two beautiful children. And there's that butterfly effect in life that you just never know is going to happen.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So I think that that decision to do residency and take that leap was impactful in so many ways for my career. The other thing I believe that made a difference was saying yes before I was ready in many circumstances. So that happened a couple of times. About a year out of residency, Joe Deloach said, Okay, you're going to apply for the state association board. And I said, Well, I'm just a baby.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I can't do that. And so he said, Well, if you put your application in, here I am, one of the two. So stepping up to fill a gap when it's needed and when somebody who trusts your skill set, that turned things for me in many ways. And then choosing community care over that traditional private practice pathway was big for me. So really allowed me to lean into advocacy in ways I wouldn't have imagined.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, and we're gonna talk about that.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Yes, ma'am.
Heather Patrick:As a woman who has held major leadership roles, what challenges did you face in your career, have you faced in your career?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I've reflected on this one a bit because I knew you might ask that. And I think I know so many people who have overcome life challenges that are unimaginable. And so I've been blessed that I don't have a bump in the road at this point that I had to really overcome in that way. However, deep inside of me, the moments that I had to overcome were some folks that tried to seed some self doubt. And I think as a woman, you try to be very confident in yourself, in the way that you appear, talk, look.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:We are the species that is more conscious of that. And so I had some instructors along the way, some male instructors in optometry and even some peers who chastised me a bit and said you'd be far more successful if you kept your mouth shut a little more, if you were a little more demure, a little less opinionated, went with the flow a little more and when you're shaping your career sometimes you take those to heart, especially if they're people that you have gained respect for. And you want to be reflective and self aware. So that, I had to reconcile. I think I was able to take what I needed from that and overcome and not change who I was and so but that was a moment that I thought am I doing this right?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Am I saying the right things? But I surrounded myself more with people who believed in me and supported. So I think that was a challenge I had to overcome probably in first or second year of optometry school when I was kind of emerging into the family and finding my pathway and my way. The other thing I've learned a little later on my career is having to put emotions aside. So that's been a challenge for me.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I make decisions often, leave with my heart, and for women that decision making and those emotions can be our superpower or can be our kryptonite right and so knowing when those get to take the front seat or your head needs to or how to balance those is a skill that I'm still learning. But I think that's a challenge, as a woman in a leadership role. I don't know if you've experienced that too. I've seen your passion come through, and that can do us great things. But it can also make, for me I've made rash decisions that I've had to be careful of and come back and analyze.
Heather Patrick:I have learned over the years and it is both through coaching and counseling frankly, personally and professionally. I think one of the best pieces of advice I was given and a skill I have sharpened is to practice the pause and to really think about my response and why I'm responding that way and if it is truly the best response. And the other piece that I one of the best things I learned from a great woman that I worked with was pick your battles. You don't have to go to battle on everything. You don't have to have an opinion on everything.
Heather Patrick:Those two things have really, I think helped me as I have grown in my leadership because they're very true. Practicing the pause is one of the best things I have ever done. You don't have to go to battle on everything. Not everything is worth that energy.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Right. It's funny, when you say those two things, I think of caring for my five and eight year old. Just pause before you react to them and then pick your battles. So all across the life.
Heather Patrick:Yes. I mean I have to do it often now with my 17, almost 18 year old son.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Exactly, exactly.
Heather Patrick:Yes. And I know there were, but talk a little bit more about maybe the qualities or is there one mentor that you know and even still to this day shapes your path or walks with you on the path? Talk about that a little bit.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Yeah, I already mentioned Joe Deloach. He's an optometry giant, really. He's one of the people that are a pillar that our profession stands on, honestly, and has shaped in many ways what we do, how we do it, and I was lucky enough to study right underneath him. So watching him early on, I was in residency and I remember he was going back and forth to Austin fighting battles, fighting advocacy issues. And I would walk in and see my mentor almost in tears over some of the cut up battles that would go on that were very personal and deeply personal to him.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And I watched that and wanted to study under it so I sort of clamored and asked for information garnered his attention and said you're going to teach me these things whether you like it or not And he used to call me a bumblebee on steroids. And he was like, just calm down. Just do one thing at a time. But I was excited to learn. And then when he called me into leadership, I said, absolutely, yes, sir.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And I think that he was a very strong mentor. And then I carry my parents as strong mentors, too, not on a daily basis. If I have a I'll call Joe if I've got that burning question of, should I do it? Should I not? How should I make this critical decision?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:But my parents, in their early mentorship, taught me a number of ways of living your life and not being somebody on the sidelines. So they were of the opinion, if you were going to be a part of a community, a neighborhood, a school, a profession, you were going to be one that shapes the way it looks and not only is at the helm, but find and hone your skill set and see what that community needs from you in those moments. And you don't stand by idly and run your mouth about things that are going wrong. You get in there and you fix them. And my dad would roll up his sleeves and fix absolutely anything.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:He was a big time oil industry moving us all over the world, exposing us to many different cultures, but he would get under the car and fix whatever he needed to fix. And so I was taught to just roll up your sleeves and get it done and then my mom didn't have a professional career per se but she also was one that stepped up anytime so HOA, PTO, my gosh she was on like the waterboard which still learning what they do. But anything that could enrich the lives of the people in your community, you were called to do. You needed to step up and be present. And so I really carry that with me and hope that I do them proud in that sense, even though I don't tell them every day that that's part of what I do.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:It really did shape how I look at my role in each of the worlds I live in. So those, I think Joe and my parents are the biggest mentors there for me in that sense.
Heather Patrick:And they instilled that fabric of your life.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Yes, they are.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. So how do you recharge and prevent burnout while wearing so many hats, especially at a leadership level? Talk a little bit about that. What do you do? How do you prevent that? Or if you feel it happening, what do you do?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I think you're probably looking for the traditional answer.
Heather Patrick:It's fascinating to me because I think this is really one of those things that people can take away because not everybody does it the same. And I do think women, and maybe men, but women in particular, I think, are always searching for maybe, how do I get ahead of this? What do you do? What's the advice you can give? Because there is no, here are the five steps you can take. It just works differently for everyone.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:It really does. I had a sad moment the other day, Heather, because every three and a half, four months I orient a group of eight new optometry students that are in their final months of training. And I had a young lady introduce herself, her name, and she said, I'm kind of burned out. And she hasn't graduated optometry school. She goes, I'm kind of burned out.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I don't know if this is what I want to do. And I was just taken aback. And I thought, wow, I need to get creative. And I'm not responsible for all of her mental well-being, but I would like to make sure, my goodness, that she doesn't burn out before she even gets to do the things that she's training to do and everyone's going through something different, but it did make me think about how we prevent burnout. I think at its most fundamental level, I still believe that optometry and providing eye care and optometric primary eye care can be a very good life balance.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I have found that I can really dive into my family when I need to. I mean, that's very dependent on the team around you, right? I've got an amazing faculty team that's supportive, but I still think most settings, optometry and optometric care, lends itself to a female having a well balanced life, having a spouse and children if you want to and doing other endeavors, for me, it looks a little different to prevent burnout. And that's like keeping it fresh and new projects. And so I was able six or seven years into building the Community Eye Clinic, I was called through some good relationships to build the Northside Clinic, which is a federally qualified health care clinic, kind of an extension.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And so that was like, go build a practice. And I think if you're in private practice, if finances allow you, maybe you do open that second practice, and that becomes your challenge and something a little fresh and a little new. And then I was able to help open the Alcon Children's Vision Center. So my endeavor is obviously in the nonprofit world, but I can only do that because I've helped lay the trust relationships with funders and donors and community partners, and I'm very proud of that. So I think that those exercises and mental challenge and how do you make the next step and putting together the very foundation blocks of each of those practices has been great and then stepping up in the next advocacy role.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So that's been fun for me. I've moved a little bit more into federal advocacy and taking best practices from Texas and making sure the rest of the country that that can spread like a good virus and help other states build good infrastructure for patient care. And so those are the things that kind of keep me going. Sort of live and breathe the profession probably to a full, and that's not for everybody. Like this young lady that I'm helping right now, I don't know that diving in that deep is her cup of tea.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So I'm talking to her about all the different ways in this profession that you can keep your cup flowing over, right, and keep things fresh. So I do hope help continue mentoring her, but that's my new endeavors and fresh exciting, projects are kind of my, preventing burnout method.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. I like that. That's good. I really am and I tell my team often. For me, I come back to my why.
Heather Patrick:Why does this work matter? And why is it important to me? And even on those days in this role, that can be weeks and weeks of challenges over and over. But it really does for me on those days that I feel like I'm just so worn out. I come back to why does this work matter?
Heather Patrick:At the end of the day, why does it matter to me and why does it matter to the community? And so I think really being laser focused on your why for me makes a huge difference on preventing that.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Absolutely, I agree. There was a TED Talk that I brought to a retreat one time that encompasses that and the minutiae takes you away from that. I think that's a great point to revisit that. And sometimes having somebody on the outside remind you and help you through that, my husband's really good at that. And big picture, he goes, Did you know what you just did there?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And I was like, Yeah, I set up the internet for the clinic. And he's like, No. Where it's going? So it's nice to have partners, whether at home or at work, to help you look at that perspective too. Yeah, I think that's great.
Heather Patrick:All right, let's shift a little bit and jump onto the topic of women's health and vision care. I am very passionate about this. I believe you are as well. And so let's talk a little bit about that. How does eye care, eye health change, particularly for women, through the life stages.
Heather Patrick:I think this is one area that I would say probably the general public doesn't really know. One, that women are typically at higher risk for vision loss, and two, that your vision as women will change based on where you are in your life. So talk a little bit about that.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Absolutely. I was really fortunate to be on a panel with your team with Herat Blindness Texas recently in Dallas and Southlake and I loved hearing the perspectives on this and there's the science behind it which I think is important and I'm not a basic researcher. I'm very thankful for what folks are doing on tailoring therapies, considering the female body and how it responds to treatments, to therapies.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:My experience is more on the real world clinical side. When we see cradle to grave at community eye clinic because there's so many people that get lost in the mix and can't afford traditional eye care avenues so when we see very young children or adolescents, we're looking now at and this isn't just women, but it's affecting them in many ways, like screen use and the increased prevalence of myopia and nearsightedness, and just missed vision issues.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And young women who might be not as forthcoming or sharing their symptoms early on. You might have young ladies that are shy or worried about the impact or how vision correction may look on their face or how that impacts their family, and so I think I feel that a little bit in the adolescent community. And then as you move towards more of the childbearing years, in my patient population, we're looking at uncontrolled diabetic changes, as you might have glucose shifts during pregnancy, hypertensive changes with high blood pressure effects during those childbearing years, dry eye certainly enters the realm at this point because of hormonal changes, and then I would say those years are also peak autoimmune years.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So we don't always think of autoimmune conditions as being devastating, but because they take so long to diagnose and they're complex to treat and very expensive to treat and they're very connected to the eye, those years of your peak immune system activity, let's say twenty to forty five, we see a lot of women who have eye conditions connected to that, that we have to, one, help manage the eye and then, two, help them navigate the rest of the health world because it's usually a multi system condition.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So that for me has been impactful. I will have a patient who comes in with retinal bleeding and we could take months trying to figure out why or get the right tests to figure out they have a blood disorder related to say lupus, and so those can be really important years to have eye care accessible to you. And then everyone will go through presbyopia or near vision changes, probably anywhere between 40 and 55 years of age, which we love. This is not unique to women. However, I think how we handle it is unique to women.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Our life demands matter. This isn't a presbyopic change, but I'm very nearsighted. And when I had my baby, I never thought about it. Just wear contacts, wear glasses, but I'm very nearsighted. Got to bring things right up to my nose to see if I don't have my glasses on.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I had my first child, and I always had to be responsive in the middle of the night to this little baby, and I couldn't see where I was going or what I was doing. Where are my glasses? Did I leave him where I was nursing last? And so that impacted me and near vision changes can do the same thing. There's a lot of demands on the women in the household that are going to be impactful.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Also the way we handle the treatment of presbyopia because sometimes there's cosmetic concerns that women have that men might not. So we have emerging drops for presbyopia and near vision changes. We've got surgeries that are coming to light. I think all these will really impact women, some in very positive ways for that. And so I hope we open the doors to that.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Lastly, menopausal and aging shifts in our later years, that's going to really compound the dry eye issue. Our glands that produce healthy tears are all under hormonal control, so we need some really innovative therapies to help women with that. I think that's coming. We're really looking at the research and the tailored treatment there so I'm excited and I love that Prevent Blindness and especially you Heather are paying attention to this so we can bring it to light and help the public really understand how we can help throughout their lifetime.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, it is very important to me And just my own journey. I mean, literally, I think I turned 40 and within the year had to start wearing readers. Now I can't see the biggie without corrective lenses or glasses. But same thing, often in the middle of the night and you think about I know exactly like I am in a routine. I put my glasses exactly in the same place so that if something happens in the middle of the night, I know exactly where to get them.
Heather Patrick:Because if I don't have them, I can't see, I can't respond. And so it is that I think is super important. And I turn 50 and I'm literally, the oil glands are clogged. And I'm like, oh, but these are things, and again, I'm in the business, right? But I just think these are things that not, in particular, women should know because they are solvable, but they also, if you like many things, if you don't intervene, they lead to larger issues.
Heather Patrick:But I just, I have to laugh because I'm like, I mean, it's like clockwork, 40 can't see up close 50, My glands are clogged. I'm like, seriously.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Yeah. You may have cataracts to look forward to at some point. But I will say, Heather, if we can get people to open their minds and we can open the access doors for folks to the innovative treatments and regular eye care and doctors who are making sure they share the best latest treatment, I think we can make this a full circle positive rather than just having to cope with the symptoms that may affect you in many ways, both professionally and at home. Yes, you are not alone. All going through.
Heather Patrick:Yep, I agree, and I think that's really the key of want, me personally, and this is one of my I want women and men and families, but I have always had a heart to advocate for women's health. I want them to live and thrive at the highest level they can. And I think really educating about eye health and the connection to overall health is key. It's one of the keys to be able to help them do that. Yes, ma'am.
Heather Patrick:Are there vision or eye health issues that disproportionately affect women that often go unnoticed? And do you have, this is a patient stand out in your mind related to this.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:My patient stand out is probably, I don't know. Well, it's related. So my top conditions that go unnoticed for women, we already mentioned them, are dry eye. And it's not that you don't notice them. Sometimes you just don't know why or we haven't accessed the eye doctor to figure out the root cause but dry eye and autoimmune disease for me are the top two in my patient population that really I see in women much more.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:We have care delays in these disease processes because we don't know about them, which prevent blindness, sexist, is working towards understanding the symptoms, getting yourself to the doctor, or because women and the family will often prioritize everyone else except themselves. So I've got stories where a woman will bring in her brother, her dad, her grandpa, and she's coordinating the care for all these people.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:She's got two babies on her hips or whatever, you know, and then I turn around and she reveals to me she can't see out of one eye and I've been seeing her family members for maybe a year at this point and I'm like when are you going to get your butt in the chair girl? She's like I just have to take care of everyone else and So then we have to have the frank conversation that if you don't address this now, which we could prevent or reverse whatever damage, then you can't provide that care. And we will all be in quite a pickle.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So those conversations happen often in our clinic. My patient's story isn't really disproportionate to women except it was gestational diabetes. It had to do with diabetic changes in the eye and she was suffering from gestational diabetes. So this was a young woman from a community. And we're in Dallas Fort Worth.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:You would think that most of everyone can access health care, eye care. We've got a lot of health care hubs here. This is a community in Grapevine, Christmas capital of the world, actually, or The US or whatever. So really quaint, beautiful little town. But there's one Hispanic community in this town that's very insular.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:There's no public transportation. All the Hispanic families live together in one tight community. Some of them have cars, most do not, so the women aren't leaving the home and just caring for the children and so we try to make inroads in that little neighborhood to bring them downtown to our clinic and this woman came in because she was losing vision during her third pregnancy, maybe fourth pregnancy actually, so she already had three kids, young kids at home, finally got her into the clinic and she had massive complications in both eyes.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I worked for six months trying to save the vision in one eye with donated surgeries and treatments and connecting the dots, controlling her diabetic, systemic diabetic disease and the saddest thing for me was we did save vision and one eye so she could care for her kids but she lost the baby in that pregnancy and that sticks with me because I came in and your patients you always chitchat so I say I think she came in and wasn't pregnant any longer and I said how's the baby doing and she just started crying because she had lost the baby due to complications and so it hits home for me and it's a sad case and we've got many successes, but that one you come back to because it's a tough one.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:But I have one that's more positive too. I had a young girl who was very shy and I had suspicions she had a brain tumor by the look of her optic nerves and her eye condition and she didn't talk much, wouldn't talk about her symptoms, so her mom was put through the ringer with five different specialists who just didn't believe us. Mean they were just, there's a variation of normal here, we don't need to explore it, and finally somebody did the brain scans and this little girl had luckily it was a bone tumor which isn't dangerous but it was causing her some eye issues and we were able to connect the dots.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:She had insurance and it was a better situation than the first but that family stuck with me and I remember that case and advocating for your patient when you have that gut feeling that you know it's right. And I think that being a young teenage girl and having some self consciousness kind of contributed to the fact that we didn't find the symptoms early enough.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So I think those are two patient stories that do stick with me and try to carry with me when I think about women and eye health and advocating for them with many of their health needs.
Heather Patrick:Does it happen often? I know it does happen, but have you seen it, especially the last several years? Do you have patients that come in and have no idea that they have an autoimmune issue or an overall health issue? And it is only through this process coming in because of vision issues that they then discover I have a larger issue. Absolutely.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:We have had that, gosh, just the other day a patient came in for what seemingly was just a headache and some eye strain and we found a retinal detachment that was related to her autoimmune disease. So that was one that just happened two weeks ago. But it is very frequent that something very routine will drive you in. Let's say your change of vision at 40 or 45 years old and just going, how am I going to deal with reading? And then we look in the back and find some silent markers of systemic disease.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And of course, at that age, 40 and above, anything that's if your lifestyle has led to risk of diabetes, risk of high blood pressure, things are going to become evident in the eye. If you think about it, it's the only place in the body where you can I, a doctor, can look in right away and see the blood vessel health, Anything that affects the blood vessels, which we can't see beneath our skin, we're not examining them directly, I can see them breaking down, suffering from inflammation, having what we call microvascular changes, these very tiny microscopic changes that are happening in the kidney also or in the liver or in the lungs, and so it's a direct connection?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:It's truly the window into the systemic health, and we use that as a kind of a throw around term, but it is the window into the health of the body, and so we're really proud to identify those diseases and forge ahead to get patients treatment. Just in our population, I end up doing seventy five percent health navigation and twenty five percent eye care some days because there's not always options. Not everyone can go to the county hospital, and not everyone has a PCP that you just phone up and call.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So we have to work together as health care providers to make sure to connect those dots, and I know that Prevent Blindness Texas is big on that. All of our training is leading to this interprofessional relationship, sharing of knowledge, and best resources for the betterment of patients.
Heather Patrick:Collaboration and communication are the key. Yes, ma'am. It's interesting because there's definitely a theme that weaves through your career and your personality of this, putting these puzzle pieces together. Each patient, that is that coming in and putting those pieces together to move them forward in the process. And I think that's very indicative of personality and why you're successful because you will put the puzzle together.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I'm not gonna give up, that's for sure.
Heather Patrick:Let's talk a little bit about advocacy. And I know this is especially important to you and I think you've got some great perspective on it. So talk a little bit about, because I do think it can be intimidating, whether you're a provider, a patient, talk a little bit about how you approached it. How did you get over being intimidated and just your experience of using your voice and both the successes and the challenges when you're in advocacy?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Absolutely. I think advocacy, which is woven into the legislative process, which that's the state level, federal level, it can be very intimidating. And a lot of folks, especially right now, do not want anything to do with, quote, politics in Austin or in DC. However, because of the foundations of our country and the good things that we have in our community and our country, we cannot avoid that that is the path by which we can affect change and sometimes must affect change. I try to remind people that advocacy is not politics.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:It may have things that we have to do, but it doesn't equal politics. Advocacy is about storytelling and it's about education, and so if you like to tell your story, if you like to share with people the good things that you do, the impact that you make, if you're proud of that, you can affect change in the advocacy world. You have to be authentic. That's, for me, probably the biggest thing is you don't need to put on a show. You just have to be authentic and tell the real stories.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:You'll get yourself in a lot of trouble if you start to make things up in those worlds and have promises that you can't follow through with. It's a tough road, though, because our especially in Texas, the process is set up to not change rapidly, and in DC for many respects too. And that's probably for some good reason. You you build systems, and you work hard to build systems, and you take very careful, thoughtful steps towards building a new law or a new legislation. So you don't want things to flip on their head too quickly.
Heather Patrick:Right.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:But that means we have a marathon to fight. And unfortunately, money in many ways can rule the political process. But I will tell you a positive story. Texas has been fighting very hard for what's right for patients and optometric practices in the world of insurance. And just today, as we speak, there's some major CEOs of health care companies that are having to answer to Congress for actions, for possibly being driven by profits over patient interests.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And so insurance is good. It's good that people have insurance for catastrophic. It drives them sometimes to more affordable health care, but in Texas, optometry was able to stand up against the big money and the big political power of insurance companies and make sure that we carve a path where patients can appropriately use their vision insurance, health insurance for eye care, and optometric practices can survive in this coming world. That's very different from when you used to put up shop and have a small private practice. There's a lot of regulations.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:There's a lot of red tape that insurance puts you through to care for a patient, and so our focus is to put the emphasis back on patients first, make sure they are getting the care they need and they can connect with their doctor, and that benefits that these companies promise can be used. We passed two major laws in Texas because people were willing our legislative team, optometrists were willing to show up and tell legislators, this is what's happening in our practice. And I think that those success stories keep you motivated. We've had some failures in politics, and you have to keep trying.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Congressional acts are very difficult to pass, and I know that very proud to see Prevent Blindness have the early detection vision bill introduced last congress like even getting a bill introduced in congress is a mountain to climb there's so much that has to be addressed in our country and so I think these are some of the challenges I do try to get people motivated by saying, you can put the really polarizing political stuff on the sideline because eye care issues and patient care, it speaks to everybody.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So left, right, middle, whatever color of politics it is, it speaks to everyone and so you can actually be a breath of fresh air in many ways when you put the focus on people, people in the communities, keeping them healthy, making sure they have eye care. I think that that's why it's rewarding to be in this advocacy realm. It's not as polarizing, which is good, and you can just really tell your story. I think it's neat that we are coordinating better now with advocacy groups like PB, the Texas Association, and also our National Association and trying to really circle the wagons, get everyone speaking the same language, advocate in the same direction, and so that's what I would say. But it is hard.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I mean, to get young students involved, sometimes you gotta say you gotta stay with them because they're gonna tell you no a few times. So just keep pounding the drum, keep spreading the message, and keep your voice heard.
Heather Patrick:Texas is an interesting state. I've been doing advocacy, on the health side for twenty plus years, and I will say I do agree with you. There is something uniting about eye care. And Texas does it pretty well, I think. So that is, from my perspective, I think we have a great foundation to work from as we look at what needs to change and how we advocate for that.
Heather Patrick:Do you think that vision and eye health has been elevated enough or do we need to continue to elevate it as part of the overall health conversation?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I'd love to say we've made strides, and I think we have. However, it needs a lot more.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:It's a backseat issue for many, many people in the public. And so the problem with big public awareness campaigns and, like, a message penetrating the public, especially in Texas Yeah. When we looked at it from a dollar standpoint, it is so tough you got to have a lot of money a lot of persistence you have to have this long term message right so it takes a lot of momentum and so I think it's almost getting harder because we have so much noise to cut through now.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:When you just had your town paper and you could put out some advertisements in it and that's received how information as a part of your community, you could make an impact with not too much effort, not too many resources. Now you have to find really creative ways to cut through the noise, to get a quality message out, you gotta have a lot of money.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And that's unfortunate, but it's just the reality that we live in. And so I think getting our advocacy organizations honed in on a message, finding the right one and then getting behind it is going be important, but no, we have a long way to go, Heather. I mean, I'm not to say and I don't say that as a naysayer because I don't I say that and people were like, well, why even try? Is it even attainable? Well, we can lay down our arms and say it's not, or we can try to make those small strides over time towards it, and that's what I believe in.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I mean, I'm a glass half filled gal, but we have a lot of work to do.
Heather Patrick:It can be done. Look at oral health.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Look at oral health.
Heather Patrick:Thirty years ago, it was on the periphery. Now everybody, for the most part, understands how important it is to caring for your overall health. I look to that as, we can do this. It can be done. It may take time, but we can do it.
Heather Patrick:We spent time as a team for several days as we're in the strategic planning really talking about what could that look like. And I think that's exciting. It can be overwhelming, but it is exciting to think about uniting all the different groups around moving that forward. Yes. What are some of the biggest barriers to eye care that you see among the underserved populations?
Heather Patrick:Or just in general, what do you see that stops people from coming to see you?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I think transportation is still probably number one, and that's so simple. But even when we thought about the formation of the Alcon Children's Vision Center, we thought about, okay, we can offer no cost donated eye care and eyewear to families and children but the families still cannot get their children to a clinic very often.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:And I think that in transportation, not in the most sometimes it's that you don't have a car, but sometimes it's that you can't get off work to then transport your child to the clinic or someone in your family or yourself. So transportation is big. We've looked at creative partnerships with how do you transport people to the clinics and fund that.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:There's a lot of liability. We haven't found the perfect key for that, but I think some funders are looking at it. But I think transportation is big. Cost is huge. We, at our downtown clinic, where I work every day, we try to do some cost relief.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So we have people who cover the cost of some folks' care. Even the church that we are within will help some individuals pay. They're on a federal sliding scale. So the more clinics clinics we can have that recognize that public need and can meet the financial realities of our patients is important, and that happens in settings like FQHCs that I mentioned, the federal clinics, and we have to embed eye care in those places so that they can pay a scaled down cost based on their household income, and so cost is a big barrier. Health literacy is big.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Just understanding what do I have, where do I go, patients ending up in the ER or something like that for eye issues saddens me because I think that that level of literacy means that's all I know. Then understanding, I always teach my students to do what we call a teach back. It's really common in healthcare. You give your patient the most basic information you can, bring it down to the level they can understand it, and then you stop and say, tell me what I just told you. And you can very quickly see if a patient understood it.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:But health literacy is we need to study it as health care providers. If you're in the advocacy realm or public health realm like Prevent Blindness Texas, we have to know what that means for the campaigns and the public awareness for sure. And then the last thing, barrier, that I identified every day is the fragmented health care system and just everyone living kind of on an island. I will say in Fort Worth, Texas, that's a little different.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:We have built this collaborative network of especially underserved clinics and communities and healthcare providers, I'm a text or a phone call away from most things that patients need, and so it does take that personal touch.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:It's not just a site that's perfectly housed that you can go to that has everything. You've got to know the players in your area, so you can't be a passive member of that health care community. But once you are active and garner trust, I've seen the healthcare fragmented system come back together, so I've got hope for that, but those are the big things I see as the challenges in our communities, especially the patients we serve.
Heather Patrick:So let's talk the last question. What do you see as the future of optometry? And in that, you know, the next five or ten years, also kind of that bridge to healthcare. Where do you see it looking out five years, ten years from now? What does that look like for you?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:I would hope that optometry could provide a primary eye care home for the majority of interstate Texans or the majority of patients in The United States. Globally, that's a bigger challenge, but I know there's great folks working on it. But I think that we are producing eye care professionals at a pretty decent rate. It's not perfect, but I think that we making good intentional moves to inspire people who want to be health care providers to go into eye care, taking them under our wings, showing them it can be a very rewarding profession. We have to build those people up to have empathy, to be adaptable, to have good leadership, and not be passive.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Some of the next generation that I'm seeing coming through had a level of apathy where it was just some motivation was lost, and I thought, how are we gonna inspire them again? I'm I'm seeing it come back, and people are, like you said, looking at their why. They're really examining why they're doing things, and so if we can sell that message that there's a very sound, a very good why in our profession, I think we can get our graduates and people who are coming into the profession and not just optometrists but those that surround us in advocacy to move in the right direction.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:We've got to focus on embracing technology so a lot of optometrists are seeing some of the new technology as a threat, so we really have to focus on making sure that we embrace that, that patients are put first when that technology comes out, that profits aren't the focus. Selling a cheap pair of glasses shouldn't be the aim of the technology.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:The doctors who care about patients should be leading the way. So I think that that's how I see our profession. It is a critical moment, though. We've got to keep our foot on the gas, so to speak, to make sure we inspire that next generation. And the other thing is they've got to go practice in places they might not have been perfectly comfortable.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Over the past thirteen years of running my clinic, I ask, where do you want to practice? And the most common answers are all of our big metroplexes in Texas, and that's tough. There's some deserts, if you will, for health care, but you've got to go be bold and go serve a community that needs you, and then you can have a very fulfilling practice and career and be the trusted doctor in that community.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:So we're finding ways to have them realize that and give them the bravery, give them the tools, and keep their motivation up. I think that's what I hope for the profession in the next five to ten years and seeing it grow is very exciting because I think the demands of eye care are growing and optometry has to grow with it.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, I would agree with that. I love that. Be bold. Go into a community you may not, but that really needs you. I love that.
Heather Patrick:All right, so give me two things if our audience remembers nothing else about our conversation. What are the two things you hope stay with them?
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:A very wise colleague told me that nothing is impossible if you work hard enough for it. And that sounds a little, utopian, if you will, like sort of obvious on its face, but you'll sit around and dream something big. And this is Dr. Peter Kass and he's also a mover and a shaker in our profession but he said you'll sit at the table with him, we're in a blue sky meeting dreaming up the greatest things, man it would be really neat if we could x y z but too bad it's just unattainable. He's like, Let's take the first step.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Let's work hard at the first step and see where we get, and it's amazing what comes if you just say, Let's just take the first step and do that first hard work. And so I hope that our audience takes that, whatever realm you're making change in. And then just to surround yourself with really good personal partnerships and relationships that lift you up and keep you moving in the right direction, especially when you hit a challenge that can be so critical. So those would be my two, hopefully, that the audience would take with them.
Heather Patrick:Thank you so much for being a part of the show today. It is always great to spend time with you and hear your perspective. You are such a leader in this space, and it is a great honor to do work with you. So thank you.
Dr. Jennifer Deakins:Thank you, Heather. I feel the same way about you, and I've grown to know you better over the past couple of years. So honored to sit at the table and help steer the ship a little bit. Prevent Blindness Texas is doing awesome things. So keep up the great work. Thank you all.
Heather Patrick:Thank you. Well, it's about to get really exciting. So I'm super excited about where we're going and the things we're doing and really deepening and strengthening partnerships and the work in the state and across the United States. So thank you.
Heather Patrick:And thank you to our audience for joining in and listening. As you know, we are always looking for volunteers and people to join the PBT family. So if you have questions, want to know more about PBT, feel free to reach out to us. We are always here and we always end with, We always want to know what your vision is. Thanks and take care.
Heather Patrick:Have a great day!