HealthView Eye Care Center makes move into new home

For more than 50 years HealthView Eye Care Center has helped area residents see better, brighter futures.

HealthView Eye Care Center is committed to being a part of that future and is growing to meet the community’s and region’s needs both today and for years to come.

On October 15, HealthView Eye Care Center opened the doors to a new 7,930 square foot building located at 353 N. 8th Street (Hwy 13) in the city of Medford.

Dr. Julie Thums explains that the practice has changed and expanded over the years and the move to the new building will allow that growth in services to their patients and the community to continue.

The new building has been a labor of love for Thums. “We want Medford to be a great place to live and work,” she said.

Thums’ pride in the Medford community can be seen in the care taken with the design of the new building making it an appealing addition to the architecture of the community as well as offering a great environment for patients and for the staff working there.

HealthView Eye Care Center started as Medford Eye Clinic with one location and changed to HealthView Eye Care Centers with locations in Medford and Colby over 25 years ago.

Over the past 50 years of HealthView's history they have gone from one optometrist with three employees to four optometrists with 30 employees. Some major areas of growth have been on the medical side of the practice, roughly half of their appointments are medically necessary appointments with the other half being comprehensive eye exams.

HealthView Eye Care Center also has a Vision Therapy clinic that now has adequate housing in their new office and makes it easier for patients to utilize the service.

For the past 50 years, HealthView Eye Care Center has worked out of a building shared with Medford Dental Clinic at 309 E. Broadway Ave. HealthView Eye Care Center occupied about 7,200 square feet of space in the building, but half of that space was in the basement.

Longtime employee Diane Solberg noted that over the years there had been two additions done to the former location

See NEW on page 10 and various remodeling projects to try to serve the needs of patients and staff. However, there were always compromises to be made such as when bringing in a new piece of equipment, trying to figure out how to get to fit where it was needed.

Likewise the layout was not always the best for patients. For example, the Vision Therapy area was in the basement of the old building which was inconvenient for those using it. In the new building this service has its own space.

Other areas where there were space crunches were in the staff areas. Solberg noted at times in the old officers they would have five different people sharing desks. In addition to office space constraints at the former locations, there were parking constraints. While the parking areas had been expanded over the years with the shared building it was always a tight fit to accommodate patients and staff. “We had to have staff park on the street,” Solberg said.

“It was hard on me to see them working in the cold basement,” Thums said, describing it as being cramped and dark. She said a major priority in the move and the design of the new building was to offer employees a bigger, cleaner space.

Some of the changes with the new building will be very noticeable to patients. For example, where in the old location they had 4.5 exam rooms, the new location has six exam rooms.

Thums described the old exam rooms as being tight and dark. The new rooms are more spacious. “You can easily navigate a wheelchair now,” she said.

The most dramatic change between the old office and the new one is the availabil-

Dr. Julie Thums

Dr. Julie Thums shows off the retail area of HealthView Eye Care Centers. Like other areas of the new building, it has ample natural light from large windows. This is better for the patients and for the staff. The former office location did not have much access to natural light. (Below) The reception and waiting area is comfortable and airy. BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS