Category: Staff news

A letter from Dr. McEathron

To all of my patients, 

In September of 1980, my wife and I moved to Bellingham to start my career at Binyon Vision Center. Now, 41 years later, I’m delighted to continue to see many of you from those early days, as well as so many more who I have had the pleasure of getting to know and care for.

While I will still be seeing patients, I am shortening my work week, and will be an employee rather than owner of Binyon Vision Center. My concern in the last few years has been that you will have a high quality continuum of care, and I’m pleased to let you know that my associate, Dr. Heather LeClaire will be taking over the ownership of the practice. In the midst of the challenges of the last few years, she has shown herself to be both an excellent optometrist and manager, and she is adept at handling all aspects of the business.  I feel confident that Dr. LeClaire will do a great job as she leads us into the future.

While I will continue to see my patients on a part-time basis, I’m looking forward to this new season and what it brings, especially being able to spend more time with our grandkids.

Thank you, 

Mark McEathron 

Safe Environment Guidelines Implemented in Response to COVID-19

We are dedicated to safe environment to provide eyecare to our patients. Here is an overview of our current COVID-19 procedures. If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact us.

We are seeing patients by appointment only for all services including repairs and adjustments.  This allows us to maintain appropriate building capacity and allows for proper social distancing.

All patients and employees are required to wear a face mask while in our building. Employees have been trained in proper personal protective equipment protocol from the Washington State Department of Health.

All patients are asked to fill out a COVID prescreening questionnaire before their appointment or at arrival.

We strive to maintain a 6′ distance between people as much as possible using visual markers. Employees use face shields for some procedures.

We clean and disinfect all common surfaces and tools between use.

We are proud of the efforts our team has made to keep our office safe. Here are some comments from surveys we’ve sent to patients who have recently visited:

They are doing an excellent job making you feel safe during this pandemic!

During these odd times, I felt very comfortable visiting the office, as they took every safety precaution they possibly could to keep their patients healthy!

Thank you for doing the right thing and keeping all of us patients safe during this pandemic. Their staff take each patient’s temperature as you walk in and adhere to all social distancing/masking/sanitizing protocols.

The office follows strict Covid precautions which eased my anxiety.

If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call. Best wishes and stay well.

Holiday Hours and End of the Year Pep Talk!

The end of the year is a busy season and we’re here to help make sure you’ve got clarity going into the new year in more ways than one!

First order of business – our office will be open our regular office hours of Monday – Friday 8:30 – 5:30, closed for lunch 12:30 – 1:30 except for the following days: Thanksgiving and the day after, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Our office will be closed those dates.

ohh la la party glasses
Face a Face frames can help you ring in 2020 right!

Next – let’s talk about vision insurance and flexible spending accounts.  Are you familiar with the details of your insurance plan?  Many benefits expire at the end of the year- let us help you find out more details about yours!

Calendar year vision benefits

Many plans are on a calendar year cycle. This means they renew on January 1st no matter when you used them last.  A common plan in our area that has this benefit is the Uniform/Regence plan. This plan is an option for employees at Western Washington University.  Patients can use this benefit to their advantage by using the hardware allowance for glasses in December of 2019 and contacts or a second pair of glasses in January 2020.  That means the hardware would not be available again until January 2022, but it’s a fun way to maximize your benefits if they are still available.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Some employers offer their employees to defer part of their salary to a tax-free savings account. This can be used towards medical expenses.  These are “use-it-or-lose-it” plans. These plans will expire with the funds going away either at the end of the year- or in some cases on March 15th.  Talk with your employers or the manager of your FSA fund to make sure you understand the balance in your account and when it might expire.

Money saved into flexible spending accounts can be used for medical expenses that are not covered by insurance- but must be medically related.  In our world that means – eye exams, copays, glasses, contact lenses and prescription sunglasses.

colorful glasses

There might be no better time to update your glasses or stock up on contact lenses!

Please give us a call to check on your vision benefits or to answer any questions on how you could maximize the money you’ve saved in your FSA account!

Some of the frames in our “Red-Dot” sale!

Also, we have a large number of frames in our “red-dot” sale section right now- all 30% off!  We look forward to seeing you this year! We would love to help you see 2020 going into the year 2020!

Photos by Katheryn Moran Photography. See more of her excellent work here!

Welcome Dr. Heather LeClaire!

Dr. Heather LeClaire has fortunately landed here in Bellingham by way of Minnesota (born and raised), Ohio (optometry school) and Seattle (because she fell in love with the PNW after visiting a friend during optometry school).  Interested in leaving the big city life for the Bellingham area where she had friends, a mutual colleague connected us and she joined our team in October 2018.

The past three months have slipped by quickly during our busiest time of year while Dr. LeClaire has seen patients Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Fridays all day.  A proper introduction is overdue- but here are some important things to know about Dr. LeClaire:

In her own words…
  • Most days you can find me… exploring our new home town and area. It is such a great combination of city and outdoors, and it is all easily accessible!
  • I love serving the world by… helping people see and feel better about how they look and feel in their glasses and contacts. I love to educate people about their eyes and their health.
  • The things I’m most passionate about in life are… friends and family, food and art.
  • When I’m not busy checking eyes you can find me… with my nose in a book, searching antique or thrift stores for possible treasures, hanging out with friends, and exploring Bellingham and the surrounding area
  • My favorite part of my job is… working with a great team of people, and meeting such a variety of people from all walks of life and with such varied interests, and being able to help them see and feel the best about their eyes and health.

It must be said too- Dr. LeClaire is a talented crafter- she created beautiful cross-stitch ornaments of each staff member’s glasses!  And they are so lovely!

Dr. LeClaire is currently accepting new patients from most insurance plans.  For more details please contact our office or consult our online appointment scheduling tool here!

Use it- Don’t Lose it – Benefits expire December 31st!

<< our series on why to NOT buy online glasses will continue in the next post!>>

Have you been paying for vision insurance or into a flexible spending account all year?  Are you familiar with the details of your insurance plan?  Many benefits expire at the end of the year- let us help you find out more details about yours!

Calendar year vision benefits

Many plans are on a calendar year cycle. This means they renew on January 1st no matter when you used them last.  A common plan in our area that has this benefit is the Uniform/Regence plan. This plan is an option for employees at Western Washington University.  Patients can use this benefit to their advantage by using the hardware allowance for glasses in December of 2016 and contacts or a second pair of glasses in January 2017.  That means the hardware would not be available again until January 2018, but it’s a fun way to maximize your benefits if they are still available.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Some employers offer their employees to defer part of their salary to a tax-free savings account. This can be used towards medical expenses.  These are “use-it-or-lose-it” plans. These plans will expire with the funds going away either at the end of the year- or in some cases on March 15th.  Talk with your employers or the manager of your FSA fund to make sure you understand the balance in your account and when it might expire.

Money saved into flexible spending accounts can be used for medical expenses that are not covered by insurance- but must be medically related.  In our world that means – eye exams, copays, glasses, contact lenses and prescription sunglasses.

There might be no better time to update your glasses or stock up on contact lenses!

Please give us a call to check on your vision benefits or to answer any questions on how you could maximize the money you’ve saved in your FSA account!

Also, we have a large number of frames in our “red-dot” sale section right now- all 30% off!  We look forward to seeing you this year!

vision insurance benefits

vision insurance benefitsvision insurance benefits

August Birthday Bingo

Break out the balloons!

We noticed an interesting phenomenon this month….. Not only are 4 of our 7 full time employees born in August, but all of their birthdays are EXACTLY 8 days apart.  If that’s not a BINGO- I don’t know what is.

august bdays employee birthdays

 

If you stop in this month – we’ll likely be eating cake!

Happy birthday to Dr. McEathron, Katie, Sarah and James!