Photo By Chief Petty Officer Darren Moore | Opticians Danuel Sisco, left, and Jason Watkins organize prescriptions to begin making...... read more read more
GREAT LAKES, Ill. - Over at Recruit Training Command’s USS Red Rover, naval recruits are seeing clearly because of the great teamwork and dedication of two devoted employees.
Danuel Sisco and Jason Watkins are opticians at the Navy’s RTC, on the East Campus of the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Both are Navy veterans, where they worked as hospital corpsmen and received optician training. Now, they continue to serve the Navy as civilian staff by making eyeglasses for the recruits.
Each year, the opticians make about 20,000 pairs of prescription eyeglasses. To keep up with the high demand, Sisco and Watkins’ lab is arranged in organized stations where they work on the eyeglasses from start to finish.
“We start with about five to 10 prescriptions,” Sisco said. “We grab the prescriptions from the eye clinic, where the recruits’ eyes are tested and the prescription is written.”
This small number helps the opticians keep track of each prescription and ensure the team stays efficient and accurate.
Once they have the prescription, which includes information like the strength of the lenses and the frame size, the team quickly pulls the correct frame and lenses from their inventory.
The lab has a large inventory of frames and lenses to fit the needs of every recruit. The Navy provides recruits with the standard 5A eyeglass frames, a recent upgrade from the infamous S9 frames, or what was commonly referred to as the “birth control glasses.”
In a press release, Capt. Matt Newton, commanding officer of Naval Ophthalmic Support & Training Activity, said, “We are confident this frame will increase the likelihood that military personnel will continue to utilize their eyeglasses beyond boot camp.”
The standard issue plastic frames are meant to withstand the rigorous activities of boot camp, since recruits are only allowed to wear eyeglasses, not contact lenses.
“Due to the environment that recruits experience during their training, contact lens wear may cause them to develop eye infections or eye irritations,” said Cmdr. Marc Herwitz, an optometrist and head of the Branch Health Clinic at USS Red Rover. “We make recruits' glasses to ensure that they have the highest level of vision. We want to assure that they are seeing clearly as their jobs depend on it.”
Once Sisco and Watkins select the correct frames and lenses, they use special equipment, called a lens analyzer, to calibrate the frames for each recruit.
“Calibration is important because without it, the lenses could hurt the recruit’s eyes and cause nausea,” Sisco said.
After calibrating the lenses, the opticians use machines to sculpt each lens to fit into the frame. Once the lenses are sized correctly, and placed into the frame, the lenses are ready to go back to the recruit.
Because of the efficient process, Sisco and Watkins can complete the eyeglasses in a timely manner to ensure recruits are properly equipped during training.
“We are providing the sight to fight for the naval recruits,” Sisco said.
According to Sisco and Watkins, each pair of eyeglasses only takes about two minutes to complete. Their speediness means they can complete nearly 200 eyeglasses a day. For the recruit, it means they receive their glasses in a timely fashion.
| Date Taken: | 10.21.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.13.2013 16:51 |
| Story ID: | 116673 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 326 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USS Red Rover provides the sight to fight, by Stephanie McCrobie, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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