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Association of Technical Opticians
P.O. Box 114
Shrewsbury, PA 17361


July 2009
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  • Latest Message 5 months, 1 week ago
    • Michelle Diaz : Alvaro, hace aprox 1 ano empece a estudiar Ciencias Opticas en Puerto Pico pero no lo pude terminar me encantaria terminar mis estudios por la internet... Pero antes quiero saber que guia de estudios deberia llevar. Materias para tomar el examen del abo.
    • Barbra : Is there anything on this site that can help me with my LDO practical exam?
    • Harry Chilingueria : Yeah, they'll always find a way around whatever programming is in place.
    • Alvaro Cordova : alf =half
    • Alvaro Cordova : do you ever wonder if alf of the requests are just bots?
    • Harry Chilingueria : What about the aspheric curve would you need to know?
    • lyamine : need te know the aspheric curve
    • Harry Chilingueria : Al, that was awesome of you to metion it.
    • Alvaro Cordova : Congrats on the accreditation by the way. I've been meaning to drop you a line. :)
    • Harry Chilingueria : They are being worked on, in the near furture their will be a study guide available.
    • choclatedahl : are there any study guides for the abo?
    • Harry Chilingueria : Awesome Cindy, I have signed up for the Vision Canada convention and like last year I look forward to the content and will be especially interested in your lecture, can't wait. :)
    • Cindy K : Harry- yes we're doing the Virtual Convention- here's the link:«link» I've also put this on Optiboard under heading of Professional and Educational Discussion Forums. And, BTW, I'm presenting my favourite workshop, MCE on a Budget (explains in detail the mechanics and means to develop study groups). and, thanx for the web content info- I see several things I'm going to get onto our website! And I'll be certain to credit all as appropriate.
    • Harry Chilingueria : Oh and Cindy if you guys are doing the virtual convention please send me a link so Icould check out who you got this year as I would be real interested.
    • Harry Chilingueria : Cindy K, no protocal for using the content from this site, but the images are from NIH, which does require a reference back to them, just do a Google search for NEI at NIH and check out their resources. The simulators are from Alcon and they have said as long as it's for a non profit or educational they are fine to use. The posts and content are mostly written by me and compiled from various sources, you are free to use them to your hearts content.
    • Cindy K : What is the protocol here for using material from this site on our association website? Please advise
    • Cindy K : Harry- are you going to do the Vision Canada Virtual Convention again this year? I see what I'm assuming is an old post you made on the subject. The lineup is great this year, and bonus, I get to present one of my favourite lectures there
    • Harry Chilingueria : Hey geeth, hows it going?
    • geeth : hai
    • Alvaro Cordova : ICQ is a messenger similar to yahoo messenger. I don't think it is a required field to register
    • maulik : can't fill your resistration process. What is ICQ
    • Alvaro Cordova : follow the link to go to the "bad behavior" program.
    • Alvaro Cordova : «link»
    • Harry Chilingueria : Ieriwinner_58, when you use the contact form use th eupper portion of it to submit not the comment section. I did not get your site address to check it out so if you could resend the address, I will take a look.
    • Harry Chilingueria : I have one more thing that will be available to only members that I am currently working on. It is a database with all contact lens parameters, price, and manufacturer contacts. I have got the script set up for uploading and the tables in the database are ready, now I am going to add a section or so every few days and it should be done in a few weeks. So keep coming back I have more resources and software coming.
    • Donn McCarthy : Looks Good!
    • Brent McCardle : Wow Harry, the site looks Great!
    • Harry Chilingueria : Thanks Al you know you are more than welcome to make copys for your site and I can send you the source code for the programs if you are interested. You should start to see the Mandell-Moore calculator being used in optometry colleges to teach students.
    • Alvaro Cordova : I like your recent entries pretty cool stuff. Congrats again on passing the Adavanced exam if I didn't already.
    • Harry Chilingueria : Their is no limit on the number of time one can submit a paper.
    • Harry Chilingueria : I have a version of it written, I called and asked how many times I can resubmit a paper, but Kara Burgess the lady in charge of the program wasn't in so I guess I will find out on monday. :D
    • Donn McCarthy : Have you started on your paper for the ABOM? How many times can you submit a paper?
    • Harry Chilingueria : I just got my results for the ABO Advanced exam, I passed.
    • Alvaro Cordova : ICQ is an instant messenger similar to AOL's AIM or Yahoo's Instant Messenger
    • Kwon : I can't fill your resistration process. What is ICQ?

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    Essilor and Framesdirect Partners?

    June 29th, 2009

    In the past I have heard many rumors mostly in online forums, things like Essilor and Luxottica teaming up. Crazy I know, but lately our industry has seen a twisted and disturbing trend of corporations taking advantage of the independent practitioners. Some of the latest headlines VSP losing their status as a non-profit and then purchaseing Marchon to then further squeezing the same profession their non-profit status was supposed to support. 1800contacts partnering up with Walmart to provide exams, because the law doesn’t allow them to sell contacts to expired prescritpions they need and avenue to get them in valid prescriptions. To the latest Essilor and Frames Direct partnering to provide eyeglasses online.

    This trend has been predicted far before I could ever concieve of it, but here we are. ECP’s are at a precipice where a choice needs to be made. Some call to boycott Essilor, but they didn’t start this disturbing trend they just see an oportunity to exploit it. The many ethically bankrupt companies that have traded in sustainable growth for fast cash are growing and the mentality to have ECP’s join them is alarming. I won’t atempt to pursuade anyone into boycotting essilors products, but I personally won’t be using their products or services.

    The real problem that needs to be addressed is our professions fractures, until optician, OD and OMD learn to work together large corporations will exploit this weakness. Eyeglasses need to be fitted properly and dispensed by qualified professionals, this cannot be accomplished with online eyewear so our patients are beign swindled and now our vendors want in on it.

    UV Index

    May 26th, 2009

    With the summer upon us, it is very important that we let our patients know the importance of proper UV protection. This means we need the resources to properly educate them. The EPA has create a sunwise program that allows us to monitor the UV index in our geographic locations by way of a zip code widget. ATO created a simple 7′ x 7′ placard that can be attached to a front window or a front door to allow foot traffic to see the UV index for the day at a glance along with a short description fo the proper precautions to take. The 7′ x 7′ placards are designed to mimic the EPAs UV poster which is also attached alogn with a few other relevent materials. Use these resources to inform patients about proper sunwear.

    UV Guide (pdf)
    UV Poster (pdf)
    UV Handout (pdf)

    UV Index Lookup Tool
    Zipcode
     
     

    Nutrition and Vision Poster

    May 26th, 2009

    Designed as a great resource for local grocery stores to display, this poster is optimized for printing at 24′ x 36′ at a resolution of 150 dpi. To download click on the thumbnail image below to take you to the larger version of the document.

    Nutrition and Vision Poster

    ABO Study Guide

    March 3rd, 2009

    Over the years people have asked for a FREE study guide for the ABO. It is not something that just anyone would be willing to provide, it takes dedication and resources to put together a study guide with any substance not to mention if it was free the authors and contributors would gain nothing monetary from it. One independent lab has put together the framework to make it possible and their work must be commended. Laramy K known as a premium independent ophthalmic laboratory has always been on the cutting edge of our industry with professional educational resources and a web forum that allows professional in our industry to share with each other the many intricacies of our industry. Laramy K, one year ago took and started an ambitious project to provide a free ABO study guide and the first version is available today for download as well as web consumption. I urge those that download it to provide comments, critiques, or just kudos to the lab for their work and dedication to our industry. Without further delay here’s that link:

    ABO Study Guide (link to Laramy-K site)

    Certification Adslicks

    October 13th, 2008

    I had a request for ABO/NCLE logo’s in digital format, I have always wondered why they are not available on the ABO website. Here is a zip file with the adslick in png format. Crop and use them as you wish.

    Certification Adslicks (zip, png)