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A passion for vision
5/5/2010 10:04:00 AM
By Hope Brumbach
Splash Editor
Profiles:
Sarah Marossy
Sarah Marossy has been on a crusade.
And her mission - to improve children's eye and vision health by teaching parents, school nurses and educators about early screening - has earned her national recognition.
Dr. Marossy, a Liberty Lake resident and owner of Post Falls Optometric Physicians, recently was named the "National Young Optometrist of the Year" by the American Optometric Association.
Marossy, 34, also was Idaho's "Optometrist of the Year" in 2008, selected for her public service and leadership by the Idaho Optometric Physician's Association. Advertisement
She founded in 2007 the Idaho Children's Vision Coalition, which is dedicated to saving children's vision through educational resources, preventative care initiatives and collaborations with agencies and schools. So far, Marossy has secured more than $45,000 in grants and private donations for her efforts.
She also recently was appointed to serve on the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Marossy sat down with The Splash this week to talk about the national honor and her passion for vision.
Q: How did you react when you first heard the news that you had been named?
A: I thought it was a prank call when they first called. It was 7 o'clock at night. When they said, "This is the president of the American Optometric Association and I want to be the first to call you," I thought this is someone pulling my leg. I'm glad I didn't hang up. … I knew I was up for the award, (but) there are 50 states involved. Idaho has never won anything on the national level. There is a lot of competition. The only two states west of Mississippi to win are California and Texas. No one from Washington or Idaho has won.
Q: What does the award mean to you?
A: I'm just excited. I think it's one of those things that you don't really think will happen to you. It's not something you aspire to do, but you aspire to be a good doctor and do things for your community. …
I think (it's also) being a role model for women; there are a lot of women in our profession compared to the old days. … Especially being a rural practicing female, just because you're from a small town doesn't mean you can't do things.
Q: Your awards have recognized your efforts with the Idaho Children's Vision Coalition. What prompted you to found it?
A: It was founded because it was a real need; I work with a lot of school districts and with Head Start and I realized there was no uniform vision screening in the school districts or Head Start, and there are a lot of children being missed. They are put in remedial reading or they are in the pediatric office getting medicated for Attention Deficit Disorder.
After years of working with local groups and statewide, (I realized) that no one really had a handle on screening children. What guidelines do you use? As a teacher, what should I look for in the classroom? As a parent, what should I be looking for in the home?
(Marossy worked for a year researching a standard for vision screening that she and other volunteer optometrists then presented in public and private schools to help with vision education, screenings and to provide necessary supplies. After a year of traveling all over the state, Marossy realized that turnover at the schools would take too much work and time. So she applied and received a grant to make a training video for the comprehensive vision screening assessment of the 3- to 5-year-old population. It is now finished and available online or on DVD.)
It's been an enormous work in progress. You would not do this just because. There's an enormous amount of passion. … You think, if it even affects one child and you save that child's vision for the rest of their life, then it was worth it.
Q: What is your passion that drives you to go above and beyond in your field?
A: Basically saving children's vision and not letting a child grow up without use of one or both of their eyes. It started from me being in elementary school; I was one of those children who was missed for several years. I have a significant prescription. No one ever came to my school. My teacher in seventh grade realized, this person can't see. How much farther would I have been ahead if someone recognized (the vision problem) when I was in first or second grade? My husband has a lazy eye and so he is not able to be corrected to 20-20 in one of his eyes. He grew up in a rural farm area and did not have a screening. He couldn't read or even see until second grade. He couldn't even do the alphabet. He has the highest and worst prescriptions known to man. He ended up being an extremely successful businessman, but look at how that early learning (was) impacted.
Before (children are) written off as stupid or lazy or a holy terror in their classroom, maybe there's a reason they're acting that way or not doing as well as they could.
Q: Tell a little about your practice in Post Falls.
A: (About) 30-40 percent (of our patients) are kids between the ages of 0-16. We get a lot of pediatrician referrals and for family practice. (I treat) ocular disease in general, that's what I specialize in. I like the interesting, difficult things.
Patients just think ‘Oh, I need a new prescription.' We do that here. But we're more of a referral-based practice.
Q: Why did you go into the optometry field?
A: I started seeing the eye doctor in seventh grade and he became a mentor to me. I shadowed him in high school and college and worked there for a time. I was originally pre-med for undergrad. I kept coming back to optometry because I had someone who I knew very well and I thought he had the coolest job in the world. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's really a happy, rewarding job.
Profiles:
Sarah Marossy
Age
34
Family
Husband, John; pet rabbit, Cadbury
Lived in Liberty Lake
Three years
Education
Graduated with honors in 2000 from Indiana University School of Optometry
Hobbies/interests
Photography, writing poetry, working on classic cars (she owns classic Mustangs)
Web site
www.postfallsop.com
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