{"id":69,"date":"2019-06-21T17:02:42","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T17:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/fall-2019-volume-1-issue-36\/pg-14-staff-spotlight-debra-clarke\/"},"modified":"2019-08-09T21:59:41","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T21:59:41","slug":"staff-spotlight-debra-clarke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/fall-2019-volume-1-issue-36\/staff-spotlight-debra-clarke\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff spotlight: Debra Clarke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\">By Andrea Vasquez<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\">Debra Clarke often tells people that teaching and ophthalmology are her two passions. In 2001, she merged both when she became the director for San Jacinto College\u2019s eye care technology program. Since then, in addition to learning the technical and professional aspects of the field, Clarke teaches about the importance of paying it forward and giving back to the community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">Q: <\/span>What experience did you have in the eye care industry prior to becoming the San Jacinto College eye care technology program director?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">A: <\/span>I worked in ophthalmology for 20 years as an ophthalmic technician, clinical trial coordinator, ophthalmic biometrist, and surgical scrub.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">Q: <\/span>What degree and certificate options do students have in the eye care technology program?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">A: <\/span>We offer three degree\/certificate pathways for students: Associate of Applied Science in Eye Care Technology, Certificate of Technology in Eye Care Technology, and the Optician Preparatory Occupational Certificate in Eye Care Technology. Our program is internationally accredited by the International Council of Accreditation (ICA). Only those students who have been officially admitted to the College, have met the eye care technology admission criteria, and had a formal interview with the program director will be considered for admission to the eye care technology program.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\">Once accepted into the program, all new students are required to pass a criminal background check and drug screening test. Students must also provide an immunization record and pass a health physical.\u00a0In addition, they must provide proof of health insurance and have a valid CPR certification.\u00a0Once these documents are provided to the department, they will attend a mandatory new student eye care technology program orientation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">Q: <\/span>The San Jacinto College eye care technology program participates in the annual See To Succeed event. Tell us a little more about what the event is, how it started, and how students participate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">A: <\/span>See to Succeed is a partnership with the Houston Health Department, University of Houston College of Optometry, Essilor Vision Foundation, and Berkeley Eye Centers.\u00a0As one of the founding collaborative partners, the College\u2019s eye care technology program has participated in this event since 2011, and 2020\u2019s event next spring will be our seventh year to serve as the host for the event.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\">Each year in the Houston metroplex, there are more than 20,000 children in K-12 who are identified by the local independent school districts to have vision issues.\u00a0The families are made aware of the problems. However, for many reasons, these children return the following school year with the issues unresolved.\u00a0The partners of this initiative knew this was unacceptable in our community.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\">The annual event\u00a0recruits an\u00a0average of 25 doctors to volunteer alongside opticians, health department staff, and San Jacinto College eye care technology students and volunteers to deliver eye exams and tests, fit students for eyeglasses, and make emergency medical referrals. Aside from implementing the skills they are learning in the program, especially the community health learning objectives, I always want them to understand that individually this issue seems insurmountable, yet together we can do so much to help others in need.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">Q: <\/span>How have you seen the eye care industry evolve? Where do you see the College\u2019s eye care technology program going in the next 10 years?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">A: <\/span>Our field is one of the fastest growing health care fields.\u00a0From elective surgeries like LASIK\u00a0and cataract surgery to medically necessary surgeries for glaucoma and macular degeneration, our industry has made great advancements just in the last five years.\u00a0The technological advances in our instrumentation and pharmaceuticals are unprecedented. One of the exciting projects that our department is currently developing is continuing education seminars for the International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (IJCAHPO), which we will facilitate for certified ophthalmic medical personnel.\u00a0In addition, we hope to be able to offer our eye care technology degree and certificate programs to dual credit students.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">Q: <\/span>What advice do you have for students who want to apply to the San Jacinto College eye care technology program?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\">A: <\/span>Do it! You will have a career for life! Eye care is a vastly diverse medical field.\u00a0There are many subspecialties that you can pursue.\u00a0There are no prerequisite courses or waiting lists for enrollment in our program. Whether you are an applicant or are thinking about a career in eye care and would like to see our state-of-the-art, 5,000-square-foot eye care teaching center, call 281-478-3612 for an appointment, and we\u2019ll be happy to show you around<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans';\">For more information on the San Jacinto College eye care technology program, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/sanjac.edu\/program\/eye-care-technology\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Droid Sans Bold';\"><b>sanjac.edu\/program\/eye-care-technology<\/b><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Andrea Vasquez Debra Clarke often tells people that teaching and ophthalmology are her two passions. In 2001, she merged both when she became the director for San Jacinto College\u2019s eye care technology program. Since then, in addition to learning the technical and professional aspects of the field, Clarke teaches about the importance of paying&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/fall-2019-volume-1-issue-36\/staff-spotlight-debra-clarke\/\">read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eye-care-technology","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3.1 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Staff spotlight: Debra Clarke - Fall 2019, Volume 1 \u2013 Issue 36<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/fall-2019-volume-1-issue-36\/staff-spotlight-debra-clarke\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staff spotlight: Debra Clarke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Andrea Vasquez Debra Clarke often tells people that teaching and ophthalmology are her two passions. 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