JCAHPO certficants attend the Stein Lecture in Chicago. Dr. Hunter Cherwek, Former ORBIS Flying Hospital Medical Director and Stein Keynote Speaker JCAHPO President Dr. Golnik presents honors to Stein Keynote Speakers Hunter Cherwek, MD, and Marc Lafontaine, COMT, BSc. Dr. Blais receives his 40 Years Faculty Milestone Award. Drs. Golnik and Freeman present the 2015 Virgina S. Boyce Humanitarian Award to Jacqueline Pullos, COT JCAHPO CEO Lynn Anderson presents Melissa Ehnbom, COA, the $2,000 Harold A. Stein Price for Best Scientific Paper. Dr. Evans, founding commissioner of JCAHPO and mentor to Phyllis Goldsmith, accepts the award on her behalf. Dr. Paton, ORBIS Flying Hospital Founder, speaks after being receiving the JCAHPO Statesmanship Award

On behalf of our faculty and the 19,000 ophthalmologists in the United States and Canada, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of you for attending the 2014 Annual Continuing Education Program. This truly is the Premier Event in Eye Care Education!

This year's program in Chicago was a resounding success! Almost 2,000 opthalmic assistants, technicians, and medical technologists registered for the over 230 hours of courses and workshops that span the entire field of ophthalmic education, including our keynote event, the Harold A. Stein Lecture.

Harold A. Stein Keynote Lecture

"Orbis International – It Starts with Vision."
Developing a strong continuum of care with a well trained and diverse Eye Care Team is a central component of the efforts of the Orbis Flying Hospital. Two members of the Orbis Flying Hospital's Eye Care Team presented the 2014 Keynote Address: Former Orbis Medical Director Hunter Cherwek MD, and Marc Lafontaine, COMT, BSc.

Dr. Cherwek spoke at length about about ORBIS International and its outreach and on-the-ground training to improve patient access to quality eye care. Marc LaFontaine, COMT, BSc, shared his personal experience as a volunteer on-board the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital from the technician's perspective.

We at JCAHPO were certainly inspired by their commitments to humanitarian service, and the JCAHPO Board of Directors made a charitable donation to Orbis in their names. We encourage any technicians interested in volunteer service to visit Orbis' website to learn more.

Volunteers, Faculty, and Awards

We would also like to thank the 220 volunteer faculty for their time and dedication to the education of ophthalmic medical personnel. Not only do our excellent teachers volunteer their time, but many celebrated 5, 10, 15, and 30 year teaching milestones! We were also pleased to have been able to award JCAHPO Past-President Bernard M Blais, MD, with his 40 Year Teaching Milestone Award, an incredible achievement in and of itself. Thank you, Dr. Blais, for your four decades of service to certified ophthalmic personnel!

Faculty were not the only people celebrating service. Every year at ACE, JCAHPO enjoys recognizing outstanding individuals who've made important contributions towards JCAHPO's mission of "enhancing the quality and availability of ophthalmic patient care by promoting the value of qualified allied health personnel and by providing certification and education."

2014 Awards and Recognitions

Virginia S. Boyce Humanitarian Award
I'd like to introduce you to the newest recipient of the Virginia S. Boyce Humanitarian Award, Jacqueline Pullos, COT. Jacqueline is driven to make a difference in other people's lives. Working with the Moran Eye Center's International Outreach division, Jacqueline was able to take her volunteer service to South Sudan, one of the poorest places on earth. South Sudan is plagued by internal strife and often wracked by conditions and diseases such as TB, Malaria, Typhoid, Polio, and Cholera. Jacqueline worked at the Duk Lost Boys Clinic, screening patients, outdoors, under intense heat and dangerous working conditions. Jacqueline and the rest of the Moran Eye team were able to screen hundreds of patients, and performed over 200 surgeries in their makeshift hospital. Her efforts and outreach improved the health and well-being of thousands of individuals in South Sudan, and for these reasons, JCAHPO was honored to name Jacqueline Pullos the 2014 Virginia Boyce Humanitarian Award Winner.

2014 Harold A. Stein Prize For Best Scientific Paper
We are please to announce the recipient of the 2014 Harold A. Stein MD FRCS(c) Prize For Best Scientific Paper goes to Melissa Ehnbom, COA, for her paper, "Foveal Cavitation and Vision Loss in Children." Melissa's paper was selected from six papers considered, and will be published by JCAHPO. The prize for this is $2,000. Congratulations, Melissa! Technicians are encouraged to submit their own scholarly papers for review. To learn more, please visit the JCAHPO Education and Research Foundation's website.

JCAHPO Statesmanship Awards
Each year, JCAHPO reflects on the contributions made by outstanding eye care professionals to the training of ophthalmic allied health medical personnel. JCAHPO's highest recognition for their leadership and commitment to advancing and training the entire eye care team is our Statesmanship Awards for Commissioner and Non-Commissioner service. This year's awards go to Phyllis Goldsmith and Dr. David Paton.

Phyllis Goldsmith
Phyllis Goldsmith initially began her career as a school teacher. After several years teaching, Phyllis enrolled in a new program that instructed students in ophthalmic assisting at Georgetown University. Upon graduation in 1977, Phyllis quickly got a job as an ophthalmic assistant with an ophthalmologist in Washington. In 1980,she accepted the position of Program Director at the University of Georgetown's Ophthalmic Medical Personnel Training Program. Over the next 25 years, Phyllis' tenure as Program Director can be noted as overseeing an increase in the access of quality training programs for ophthalmic medical personnel nationally. As President of ATPO from 1988 to 1990, Phyllis was crucial in raising the profile of the profession. Phyllis' distinguished career highlights her long-standing commitment to the spirit of JCAHPO's mission.

David Paton, MD
Dr. David Paton is perhaps best known as the Founder of Project Orbis- now know as Orbis International. As its first Medical Director, he developed and strategized the planned deployment of mobile 'flying hospitals.' Since its first flight, the Orbis Flying hospital has visited at least 92 countries in the world, and has provided millions of individuals with much needed treatment, and trained ophthalmic medical personnel and eye care team members. In addition to pioneering the flying hospital, Dr. Paton is a prolific writer, authoring, co-authoring, or contributing to over 150 publications. He is a recipient of the French Legion of Honor, and of the US Presidential Citizens Medal for his efforts. Dr. Paton has a fascinating auto-biography, Second Sight: Views from An Eye Doctor's Odyssey; his personal history and journey, from boarding school to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to his time traveling the world to help those in need. JCAHPO was honored to present the 2014 Non-Commissioner Statesmanship Award to Dr. David Paton.

Save the Date!
We are already working hard on putting together an excellent schedule for next year's Annual Continuing Education program. The 2015 ACE Program will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 13-16, at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino. We look forward to seeing you there!

---