American Eyecare opening office in Mt. Pleasant

MT. PLEASANT - Any Mt. Pleasant residents worried their eyesight is not quite 20/20 can look forward to American Eyecare's new office in town.

The locally owned optometry practice plans to open its fifth location by the end of this month at 1802 E. Washington St. The practice has offices in Burlington, Fairfield, Fort Madison and Keokuk.

'When we're looking at the area and the patients we take care of, there was sort of a gap between Burlington and Fairfield, so it made a lot of sense to look into Mt. Pleasant,” Jamie Strong, American Eyecare operations manager, said about the decision behind opening the new office.

Marketing Director Julie Claus added the practice already has a base of customers from the Mt. Pleasant area, many of whom were traveling to other offices for services.

'There isn't really a prominent eye doctor here,” she said.

Five optometrists will make their way through Mt. Pleasant every week. Strong said the practice's model makes sure clients have a variety of options. In addition to purchasing glasses and getting eye exams, residents can go into American Eyecare for emergency eye problems, including foreign bodies, floaters or lashes.

'They don't specifically know a lot about eyeballs in an emergency room … We encourage people to call - we work people in if there's an emergency or urgent situation,” Strong added.

Like other businesses opening and operating during the coronavirus pandemic, American Eyecare has faced some setbacks with obtaining certain materials due to the shutdown of supply chains but is looking forward to being ready for business by July 20.

Customers can expect to go through a preliminary screening process to enter once the office is open.

'All of our staff will be wearing masks. We're following CDC guidelines,” Strong said.

In addition to keeping customers safe, the operations manager added the goal of the practice is to make people feel they 'don't want to go anywhere else because we took such good care of them.”

'We really truly feel that way. Whether it's just buying a pair of glasses if you're in for an eye exam - we prioritize our patients and put them first,” Strong said.