Sunday, May 06, 2001

The Natchez Democrat

The new building at No. 10 Vision Lane is abuzz with patients,

but no one is complaining.

Drs. Douglas Smith and Chad Norton are accustomed to busy days

in their ophthalmology clinic.

However, the last few months have been different, as doctors

and staff have settled into the new space – much more space than

they occupied at the old address.

&uot;We were dreadfully out of space,&uot; said Smith as

he stood in the roomy reception area where on one side are chairs

and tables for patients and on the other side, the attractive

optical department with walls of eyeglasses awaiting patients’

selections.

&uot;The optical area has about three times the space we had

at the old place,&uot; Smith said.

&uot;We wanted to have a facility to meet the needs of our

patients, and so far everyone loves it.&uot;

Norton showed off a room devoted to a new piece of equipment,

an auto refractor. &uot;At the old place we didn’t even have

a room where we could put this,&uot; Norton said.

&uot;It gives us a really good starting point with patients.

It first gives an approximate prescription, and then refines that

prescription. This is as far as technology can take you now, and

it has streamlined the examination process for us.&uot;

The new building, officially The Eye Center, came together

in about six months. Johnny Waycaster of Natchez was the architect,

and Edgin Construction of Natchez was the builder.

&uot;We have filled the space except for one room where we

have some room to grow,&uot; Norton said.

Norton joined Smith’s clinic in July 1999, about the time two

other Natchez ophthalmologists, Dr. Charles Stern and Dr. John

Langlow, retired.

&uot;Dr. Smith was as busy as can be,&uot; Norton said. The

old clinic on Jefferson Davis Boulevard became busier with an

added physician, and the need for more space became clear to the

partners.

Some patients who have not had appointments since the clinic

moved in early February are not aware of the new address, he said.

&uot;We have a system called House Call that calls patients

the day before they’re to come, and there is a message about the

new address; but sometimes people don’t wait to hear that part.&uot;

Vision Lane is a short street off Highland Boulevard in the

same neighborhood with a pediatric clinic and dental clinic and

across the boulevard from a radiology clinic and orthopaedic clinic.

A new sign has been placed at the head of Vision Lane to help

patients locate the turn.

Smith said only some landscaping and outside work remain to

complete the complex.

&uot;We’re all settling in, and it’s starting to feel like

home to us,&uot; Smith said.