NSUCO - The Visionary Spring 2012

THE V ISIONARY • S PRING 2012 — 15 who were snowbirds at the time, and to my brother, who was an attorney and a long- time South Florida resident,” he explained. “Soon after I relocated, newspaper articles began appearing about the possibility of an optometry school opening at Southeastern University of the Health Sciences (SEUHS) in North Miami Beach. When I learned the first class would be in August of 1989, I knew I needed to act, but figured it would still be a few years off.” The other illuminating—and inadvertently amusing—incident occurred in 1989. Thank- fully, it would serve as a serious wakeup call for Dr. Patrick to cast away his complacency and pursue his unfulfilled optometric dreams. “An incident at work reminded me of why I couldn’t be an optician much longer,” he admitted. “I was having a par- ticularly bad day when an elderly woman came into the dispensary I was working at and asked what I had to make her look beautiful. Without missing a beat, I said, ‘A paper bag with cutouts for your eyes and nose.’ After profusely apologizing—and giving her a substantial discount—I knew the time to move on was near.” Fortunately for Dr. Patrick, the reappear- ance of his treasured friend, Dr. Bruce Con- sor, would set into motion a series of unforeseen occurrences that would soon transform his life. “Just after this hap- pened, my friend Bruce came back into the picture. In the spring of 1989, he called to tell me he was accepted as a member of the charter optometry class at SEUHS. I was shocked because I didn’t know he was even interested,” Dr. Patrick stated. “However, one of Bruce’s brothers had become an op- tometrist many years earlier and had been classmates at UHCO with our college’s founding dean, Stewart Abel, O.D. Al- though astrology never held much appeal for me, clearly the stars had aligned—and I wasn’t going to procrastinate any longer. I quit my job at the end of 1989 and returned to school shortly thereafter to obtain the credits I needed to enter SEUHS College of Optometry in August 1990.” DAUNTING CHALLENGES AWAIT DR. PATRICK Returning to the rigors of academic life would prove to be a formidable undertak- ing for Dr. Patrick, who hadn’t occupied a classroom since graduating from New York City Community College in 1977. “I hadn’t attended school in 13 years, so returning to college life after working fulltime for many years was no easy task,” he said. “Although I was accustomed to working five-plus days a week, school was a 24/7 proposition, which is why it took the better part of a year for me to readjust.” Dr. Patrick also had to contend with several health issues that had forever altered his life several years earlier. “I developed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) right after graduating from opticianry school,” he ex- plained. “Everyone knows it robs you of your physical strength, but many are un- aware that it wreaks havoc on your mem- ory. Although I never had a photographic mind, I had the ability to memorize most anything prior to developing CFS. Because of this deficit, I had to learn tricks to re- member all the facts that are part of a pro- fessional education. “In addition, I was diagnosed with depres- sion not long after developing CFS,” he added. “As I later found out, they go hand and hand. Unfortunately, I had little money to pay for this adventure because I only earned a modest living as an optician. I knew obtaining student loans wouldn’t be a problem, but I didn’t want to mortgage my future either. That’s where my beloved par- ents came to the rescue. They took care of most of my living expenses for the three years I stayed with them.” Beyond his understandable health con- cerns, Dr. Patrick had another reason to feel uneasy as he embarked on his opto- metric education—his age. “I was 37 years old and was about to be thrown into a I was hooked the first day I interacted with the students...Having them look to you for guidance was one of the greatest feelings I had ever experienced... “ “