Dr. Kerry Beebe: Local Eye Doctor With A Mission

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Dr. Kerry Beebe: Local Eye Doctor With A Mission

Dr. Kerry Beebe is a teacher, an international volunteer and a national optometric leader

Dr. Kerry Beebe knows a thing or two about being involved. In addition to his optometric practice, the Brainerd-area family eye doctor spends much of his time as a volunteer. Dr. Beebe serves on many state and national committees that further the cause of better vision, he started a local scholarship, works to help needy people see in underdeveloped countries, and he teaches a class each year on the human eye to 6^th graders at Washington Middle School.

“You’ve got to get involved,” said Dr. Beebe. “When you volunteer, you put yourself in the other person’s situation, and you learn. It’s fun and challenging.”

While serving as chair of the American Optometric Association’s (AOA) Hospital, Nursing Home and Geriatric committee, Dr. Beebe helped set up protocols for optometrists to gain hospital privileges. Dr. Beebe currently chairs the AOA’s Clinical Care Group and is responsible for all clinical issues including development and oversight of the Healthy Eyes, Healthy People public health program. While on the AOA’s Clinical Practice Guidelines committee, he helped establish recommended practice patterns for more than 20 optometric areas such as glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration.

Dr. Beebe has also worked with the Centers for Disease Control Complications for Diabetes Task Force to get the word out about the importance of regular dilated eye exams for those with diabetes.

His latest vision quest, as a member of the AOA Infant Vision Project Team, is to help eradicate amblyopia (better known as lazy eye) in children. According to AOA statistics, 2-3% of infants have amblyopia, but gone undetected can lead to a lifetime of poor vision. In fact, only 14% of children entering first grade have ever had an eye exam.

Dr. Beebe is modest about these accomplishments, but Minnesota Optometric Association Executive Director Jim Meffert-Nelson, is quick to point out the significant contribution Dr. Beebe has made to the optometry profession.

“Kerry is a major asset to optometry,” Meffert-Nelson stated. “He was instrumental in passing laws that protect Minnesotans’ eye health, and he has worked tirelessly to create standards for incomparable eye care across the U.S.”

While Dr. Beebe enjoys being part of the evolution in optometry, he seems most gratified by helping people on a one-to-one level.

In 2002, Dr. Beebe and his wife Mary started an endowed scholarship to honor his late optometric practice partner, Dr. Gene Sundberg. Dr. Sundberg was passionate about flying and learned to fly at age 14. Brainerd-area residents may remember seeing Dr. Sundberg do barrel rolls and flips over the lakes on clear summer nights. Dr. Beebe wanted to salute that love of flying and so the Dr. Gene Sundberg Pilot Scholarship was created. The scholarship is for any Brainerd-area school district high school graduate who is interested in becoming a pilot—either private or commercial.

Bringing better vision to people in need is Dr. Beebe’s lifelong goal. As part of VOSH or Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity, Dr. Beebe is helping to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

According to VOSH, the goal of the organization is to improve people’s vision so they can be more productive and enjoy a better quality of life.

“It’s some of the most interesting work I have done,” noted Dr. Beebe. “Optometrists and ophthalmic surgeons volunteer for one to two week missions to provide recycled eyeglasses, treat eye disease and perform eye surgery. It’s amazing the difference you can make especially when we in the U.S. tend to take our vision for granted.”

Sixth graders at Brainerd’s Washington Middle School get real hands-on learning when Dr. Beebe comes in each year to teach a class on the human eye.

“It’s something I’ve done each year since 1984, and it’s still fun,” added Dr. Beebe. Dr. Beebe’s full-day curriculum includes allowing students to look inside the eye, help him diagnose disease through patient disease photographs, and then observe a cadaver human brain, as well as cataract surgery videotapes.

Carol Jackson is the sixth grade teacher that first recruited Dr. Beebe to Washington Middle School. According to Mrs. Jackson, bringing experts in to help teach a curriculum really brings the subject to life. “My students get really excited when Dr. Beebe comes in. The students’ learning is greatly enhanced by the hands-on experience and Dr. Beebe gets involved with them. They love it when he lets them assume the role of eye doctor in class. The kids truly like and appreciate him.”

When asked about what advice he’d give to people considering becoming a volunteer, Dr. Beebe said, “Everyone has unique skills and perspectives that certainly can be offered to other people. My advice is to just get involved. Your own life will change because of it.”

About the MOA:
The Minnesota Optometric Association has 525 member doctors of optometry around the state. The MOA is committed to furthering awareness of optometrists as primary eye care or family eye doctors and to bringing about change that positively impacts the MOA member doctors and their patients.

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