Issues and News from your Association

By Mary Field

Vision Canada Niagara Falls gave opticians who are oenophiles the opportunity to sip the grape and let their senses soak in the evocative atmosphere of autumn in wine country. The conference weekend started off with a tour of Château des Charmes, one of the premiere wineries in the Niagara Peninsula. The tour concluded under a large garden awning with a view of the vineyard and the setting sun where everybody had the opportunity to taste a variety of Château des Charme’s award-winning wines after which they settled down to a gourmet meal. Weary but well-fortified for the return trip to the hotel, the group arrived with plenty of time to enjoy the fabulous view of the illuminated Falls.

If you ever had an opportunity to “see the possibilities” it was in that place on that weekend. From the practical to the sophisticated, it’s clear that the 21st century optician can provide consumers with more and better choices than ever before. Your imagination could soar at every exhibit booth. Just when you thought you’d seen something that couldn’t be topped, you’d turn the corner and find something unique and sassy like M.A.G. International’s Eté feather frames. The wrap-around design features feathers that are imbedded in the temple and wrap front.

Looking for something to promote as a Christmas gift? Visiball Golf Ball Finders might be the ticket. This sunglass is a Canadian invention that won the “Best New Product” award at the 2005 PGA Golf Merchandise Show. Looking for great marketing ideas?

Essilor and Transitions have teamed up to give you WEBSMART DAYS available at participating labs across Canada. One day each month during 2006, when you order via a web-ordering channel during the 24 hours of the event, you’ll receive a special price on lenses that are part of the promotion. You can use this to your advantage by, for example, targeting similar promotions in your dispensary to coincide with the WEBSMART DAYS.

Another interesting partnership is the one between NIKE and Bausch & Lomb. With a blending of expertise Bausch & Lomb has produced the NIKE MAXSIGHT™, a soft contact lens that’s available in two sport-specific tints and in prescription or plano powers. Amber is used for fast-moving sports played under variable light conditions while the grey-green tint is best for sports played under bright sunlight.

If you haven’t taken a gander at safety frames lately, look again. Optiq Frames/On-Guard Safety continues to make things look better for industry. A few years ago they added their stylish Front Office collection. This grouping of frames has more recently included a few rimless designs. When you’re servicing an industrial contract you no longer have to fight with the customer over the fashion issue (or lack of fashion) that used to be encumbered by a handful of sturdy but ugly safety frames.

Vision Canada has changed its production theme to a boutique trade show combined with an intense educational experience and will be hosted once a year. The new schedule and theme will be launched in October 2007 in Kelowna, B.C.
at the Grand Okanagan Hotel and Conference Centre. Do I detect a wine theme here?

The major event for Eastern Canada in 2007 will be the Ontario Opticians Association’s Inside Optics event taking place in April. Next year will be the end of a continuing education cycle for Ontario opticians and they will be able to collect many credits at the new two-day format that has been developed by the Ontario Opticians Association.

The OAC will be launching a national safety eyewear program in January 2007. The Canadian Safety Eye Wear Program is a project developed by the Alberta Opticians Association (AOA). The success of the program has outstripped its ability to provide anything more than provincial coverage for participating employers. Consequently, with more demand by national employers seeking to find a program that their employees across Canada can access, the AOA decided the program needed a national administration. Part of the mandate of the Opticians Association of Canada is to promote business opportunities for Canadian opticians. As such the Canadian Safety Eye Wear Program seems to be a good fit. Any lab that is prepared to offer the prices negotiated for the program is eligible to become suppliers to the program. Any optician who wishes to take advantage of the prices to service a safety contract of his/her own may do so and any optician who wishes may service one of the safety contracts negotiated by the OAC. In the New Year the OAC will be mailing information about how you can participate in the program.

The Opticians Association of Canada is pleased to be able to work with its provincial partners on many worthwhile projects. As such, through the month of October the newly formed Opticians of British Columbia (OBC) has kept us busy providing resource for their series of Vision Screening workshops, which have been held throughout their province. The organizing committee of the OBC has put in many hours of preparation and instruction time, sharing this exciting opportunity with their colleagues. As a consequence the OBC is looking forward to helping its members host Community Outreach Vision Screening Fairs in 2007. The pilot Fair is expected to be held in December 2006. The OBC Vision Screening Fairs are a parallel to the Neighbourhood Eyecare Fair held in early September by the Ontario Opticians Association. Working in a similar path, the Opticians of Manitoba offered to provide vision screening for the Manitoba Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) Health Fair at their annual one-day event for WCB employees. It is clear that opticians are energized by community outreach and see it as their responsibility as well as an opportunity to help consumers understand the role of the profession on the vision care team.