Dr. Andrew Royer knows seeing is believing. With his new optometry practice, Falcon Family Eye Care, he plans to combine old-fashioned customer service and small town values with modernity and medicine.Construction related delays set the opening of the practice back an entire year. He originally planned to open May 2006, but the launch is now scheduled for the end of April.Royerís passion for eye care started as a child. His parents had his eyes examined after noticing he was having difficulty with distance vision and squinting while watching television.Young Royer needed glasses. The glasses didnít suit his sporting activities.In the small town of Good Hope, Ill., Royer played catcher for the schoolís baseball team. ìEvery time Iíd rip the mask off to find the ball, my glasses would go with it,î he said. The solution: His optometrist fit him with contact lenses. ìThat made a world of difference,î Royer said. ìAnd that pretty much got the ball rolling.îHis experience fostered a desire to help others. ìVision, in the past Ö I donít think it has been looked at like it should have,î he said. ìVisual and perceptual problems are more common than they were once thought. Vision care is very important for school-aged children.îWorking with the elderly is equally rewarding for Royer. ìThey often times have a lot to say, and you can learn a lot from them if you just take the time to listen,î he said. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, one in three Americans will suffer from a sight-related disease by age 65, the most common of which are cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration.No matter the clientsí age, Royer said treating people right is one of his top priorities. ìCustomer service is huge,î he said. Royer will provide 24-hour on-call emergency care. ìIf someone has an eye problem in the middle of the night,î he said. ìThey [can] call and I can see them.îRoyer has been working as an optometrist for Doctorís Vision Works since moving to the area in July 2005. His long-time dream was to open his own private practice, a dream that is about to become reality.Supporting that dream is his wife, Aubry.Royer met Aubry during his senior year of undergraduate study. After he graduated, the couple maintained a long-distance relationship after Royer headed to Tennessee to attend the Southern College of Optometry.Royer moved to Colorado, while Aubry finished her masterís degree in rehabilitation counseling. The two married in 2005, and Aubry currently works for the state as a vocational rehabilitation counselor.The new practice will utilize some of the latest technology in ocular diagnosis and treatment. No searching for charts; the office will be paper-less as Royer will record his examination findings on computers.The office also will be equipped with a corneal topographer, a device that produces a geographical map of the cornea, providing more accurate fits for contact and hard lenses. FFEC will also offer Corneal Refractive Therapy, a safe alternative to Lasik and refractive surgery.Royer, an advocate of patient education, plans to keep clients better informed with educational software like Eye Imagination, which provides clients with pictorial demonstrations and explanations of disease processes.The virtual age will also be part of the services. Patients who wish to see what they look like with different frames or color contact lenses can have a digital photo manipulated to include the eyewear.Outside of his practice, Royer and his wife are charter members of the Falcon Lionís Club. Royer was the founding president of the Southern College of Optometry Lions Club. Royer also is a member of the Kiwanis Club.The Colorado outdoors provides a respite from work and volunteer activities. Royer enjoys mountain biking, hunting, hiking and skiing. ìIf I had a passion besides my career, Iíd say itís golfing,î he said.
