Future Vision: New Name and Location Means Visibility for The 10th Street EyeCare Center

Heavy Traffic - 10th Street traffic is framed in the archway of 10th Street EyeCare Center's front entrance. "We chose the 10th and Washington location because it's convenient and it's visible, said McCaulley. "It gives us the size of the lot that we need at that area, too, and of course, there's a lot of traffic that flows right there."    "Our new place is about a third bigger than our previous location," said McCaulley. "We really need the room. We've outgrown our present facility because we've really grown since Dr. Premer joined us more than two years ago. His practice has really expanded; it's grown rapidly."

The magnificent copper roof glistens in the hot summer sun as it protects and shades the new stately foundation that is decorated in a tan sandstone look with brick. In combination, the tandem proudly stands together as one structure, impressively decorating the streetscape on the southwest corner of 10th and Washington in Great Bend.

"We wanted to have a distinctive looking building, something people would notice when they drove by," said Dr. Russell McCaulley, co-owner of 10th Street EyeCare Center, formerly known as McCaulley Optometric when the business was located on 16th Street. "We went from 700 vehicles that drive past our present location to more than 20,000 vehicles a day."

As grand and noticeable as the outside of the building is, it's what happens inside that is most important for McCaulley and fellow optometrist Dr. Chad Premer. The new building provides 30 percent more operating space for the doctors and their staff of 13 to perform more than 30 services to eye patients.

"In our previous location, we have several bottlenecks where every patient has to go through, so it creates a disruption in the flow of the practice," said McCaulley. "Our new office is designed to eliminate those bottlenecks."

The 10th Street EyeCare Center has been built with six examination rooms, compared to only four rooms at the 16th Street location, and the optical area is significantly larger with a larger selection of frames. Plus there are vast areas for storage and more space for patients. Planning for the new building began two years ago and construction began last summer, said McCaulley.

"It's a very open space and comfortable," said McCaulley. "We wanted to make a space where people feel comfortable and I think we have succeeded."

EyeCare Staff - The staff of 10th Street EyeCare is left to right, front row: Ruth Van Pelt, Marilyn Ille, Stacie Basye, Anita Ellis, Hillary Emerson, Alicia Spore. Back Row (L to R): Karen Proffitt, Mary Huber, Chad Premer, Russ McCaulley, Kathi Hoffman, Dolores Shaheen, Nina Dozier.    "The new facility is going to be easier on the staff because work spaces are more efficient for them," said McCaulley. "They've been looking forward to this move for some time."

Making the move to the new location means the end of an era for McCaulley. He arrived at the 16th Street practice in 1983, joining Drs. Franklin Reinhart and Robert Gillette in the building that Reinhardt had built in 1959, along with the other tenants of the complex. His two partners retired by the late 1980s, leaving McCaulley to practice alone before Dr. Bridgette Ostmeyer came on board for several years until she left nearly three years ago. Premer joined the practice on the heels of Ostmeyer's departure. Since his arrival, the patient care load for the business has increased about 20 percent, estimated McCaulley.

"Through all of the changes, we've been able to maintain our patient load," said McCaulley. "We computerized and we streamlined our processes so that we're much more efficient then we were a number of years ago. We have fantastic staff and people enjoy coming in and working with our staff because they provide excellent eye care."

Eye Testing - Eye-testing equipment for visual fields, auto refractor, tonometry, and a retinal camera are pictured. The equipment has since been moved from 16th Street to 10th Street. "We've continued acquisition of state of the art equipment over the years and we'll be adding some new things in the future, but for now, it's been a matter of moving our current equipment over to our new location," said McCaulley.

With increased exposure at the new location, McCaulley and Premer are anticipating even more growth in future years, although it's hard to gage how much growth to expect, said McCaulley.

"We are planning on growth and we do expect that the new location will lead to increases in patients," said McCaulley. "We don't know the extent, but we're preparing for it."

All that's known now is that McCaulley and Premer have captured the public's attention with the grand building that sits on a major thoroughfare for the city. Even Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson noticed and praised their progressive efforts last March for erecting the stately structure where an old, vacated A&W drive-in stood for many years.

Glasses Galore - Rows and columns of eye glasses are featured in a display case at McCaulley Optometric at the 16th Street location. With more room for patients, 10th Street EyeCare Center features more selections of frames.

"That was really nice of him," said McCaulley about Parkinson's comments. "We'll have to make sure he gets an invitation to our open house. Everybody told me he really said some nice things."

The open house will be announced when a date is set.

"We'll have about a six-week test drive before we have the open house to ensure everything is running smoothly," said McCaulley. "People want to see what's inside our building, so we're looking forward to giving them the tour in a few weeks."