Article – Blue Valley Eyecare

Get quality care at 
Blue Valley Eyecare

By Ashley Puderbaugh

Published: August 2009
Women’s Edition magazine

The minute I walked into Blue Valley Eyecare, I immediately liked the place. Instead of a drab office, the optical and front lobby walls are painted in purple and lime green. Contemporary chairs sit in one corner of the room next to a flat-screen TV. There are plenty of magazines to read and toys for the little ones to play with.

Dr. Heidi Reiling is the sole owner of Blue Valley Eyecare, which has been open in its present location for 10 years. Dr. Paul Brinckman, also an optometrist, works a couple days a week so that Blue Valley Eyecare can stay open for longer hours. Open six days a week, the eye care center offers late hours and weekend times for working patients, which Dr. Reiling says patients appreciate.

After obtaining her undergraduate degree from Kansas State University and her Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of Houston, Dr. Reiling worked for a variety of optometrists and ophthalmologists for five years before opening Blue Valley Eyecare. “It was good because it helped me formulate how I wanted to do things,” she explains. “You see how other people do things in different scenarios, and then you can put it all together in your head and know what you want to do. I think it would have been a lot harder to do that straight out of school.”

Dr. Reiling says she chose to pursue optometry while she was a junior in college after observing an optometrist in Manhattan, Kansas. She had always known she wanted to be in the medical field. She even worked in a veterinarian’s office when she was younger before deciding that she preferred to work with people. She didn’t want the long hours that residents have in medical school, and she likes that she has more flexible hours today. Dr. Reiling chose to do two externships. One externship took her overseas to an army base in Wurzburg, Germany for a semester, while the second externship had her working at the Indian Health Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Three full-time staff members help keep Blue Valley Eyecare running smoothly. Jill Brand, office manager, and Cacey Sanderson, lead optician, help patients pick out glasses and are in charge of the frames and sunglasses selections. Jill says the top-selling women’s lines are Coach, Kate Spade, and Gucci, along with Kliik from Denmark and Fysh from Great Britain. Oakley, Nike, Armani, and Burberry are top sellers on the men’s side, while Nike frames are also good for kids, she says. They are made with Flexon, which is a material with a high “memory” factor that enables a twisted frame to return to its original shape. As for sunglasses, you can find Maui Jims, “which are the highest-quality polarized glasses that you can get on the market,” says Jill. They also carry Calvin Klein, Coach, Gucci, Burberry, Armani, and more. “We try to have a nice selection, and one thing that Cacey and I have tried to do is make sure that we have something that will fit anyone who walks in the door,” Jill shares.

It’s about more than just fitting faces though. Cacey and Jill say they always try to make sure that they’re matching the customer’s lifestyle to the glasses. “Everybody’s different. In conversation, we just try to find out what each person’s individual needs are and go from there,” Cacey explains. “Maybe a patient has never worn glasses before, or works on a computer all day, or spends a lot of time outdoors. These are just a few of the things we consider when helping patients select a frame and lenses.” And while Cacey and Jill are there to help customers more easily pick out frames, Cacey says they don’t hover over customers if it’s not necessary. “We don’t work on commission, which is really rare in this business, so there’s not that pressure to buy something,” she says. “I’m not going to try to talk you into things that you don’t need. I’m just going to present all the options just so that you’re aware.”

That’s one of the things Dr. Reiling credits for the success of her business: Offering patients options in every aspect of their care. “I don’t try to steer them down one particular path—I try to present all the options and let them be involved in the decision-making,” she states. She also strives to maintain personal relationships with each of her patients. She achieves this by scheduling an even pace throughout the day so that she has time to talk with them about more than just their eyes. “Other doctors may try to see as many people as they possibly can in a day, but I don’t work that way. I don’t want to feel like I’m being rushed and I don’t have time to give personal attention,” she says with a laugh.

Tina Rodriguez has been a patient at Blue Valley Eyecare for seven years. She says she regularly refers her friends and family members to Dr. Reiling’s office. “The personal attention is given to every patient—it’s not like an assembly line. Plus, the entire staff is very professional,” she says.

Besides offering regular eye examinations, Blue Valley Eyecare offers a wide range of contact lenses, including specialty lenses for astigmatism and corneal conditions. The office has also recently started carrying multifocal lenses for people who have lost their near vision.

Dr. Reiling says Blue Valley Eyecare caters to diabetic patients, and her staff has the ability to detect the signs of retinopathy. Instead of having to dilate the eyes each time, Dr. Reiling can use the new Optos retinal camera, which takes a wide view of the retina so she can document and track any changes. Patients of Blue Valley Eyecare can also see Dr. Reiling to treat most eye infections caused by allergies and the typical run-of-the-mill pink eye. “It’s almost better if you come to the eye doctor because if you go to a general physician, you’ll probably get a more generic type of treatment,” she says. And because they treat infections, Blue Valley Eyecare accepts medical insurance. She adds that Blue Valley Eyecare patients interested in Lasik surgery take comfort in knowing that they can receive their pre- and post-operative care there.

Blue Valley Eyecare is located at 12621 Antioch Road in Overland Park. Call 913-814-7707 for more information.