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Founded in 1980,
this small White River Junction, Vt. business
originally operated as a traditional optical
laboratory producing regular corrective eyeglasses
for local optometrists and opticians. Over the
past four years, Chadwick has specialized in
eyeglass prescriptions for the visually impaired,
including high prism and high diopter lenses and
more specialized designs such as high prism
laminates for retinitis pigmentosa patients and
tints, glare-reducing filters and even variable
tint lenses for patients suffering form macular
degeneration, glaucoma and photophobia.
In
addition to serving accounts throughout the U.S.,
Chadwick exports to Canada and as far as South
Africa and the Pacific Rim. It also services the
majority of the Veteran Administrationís blind
rehabilitation centers, schools of optometry and
many state and local associations for the blind
and visually impaired.
Recently, the
National Institute of Health awarded Chadwick a
grant to develop and evaluate the effects of a
novel design of prescription eyeglass lenses for
homonymous hemianopia, a half blindness on one
side of the visual field in both eyes that results
from brain injury. L&T spoke with Karen
Keeney, Chadwickís president and owner, about this
new project and the labís expanding role in the
low vision field.
Why did
Chadwick target the low vision
market?
We targeted low vision for
many reasons. My beloved grandfather was legally
blind, whichprovided an empathetic incentive. It
was a lab market that did not lend itself to mass
merchandising, where we could not afford to
compete. It also appealed to our collective
creative optical and entrepreneurial skills. It is
an underserved market, on the laboratory side,
because larger labs cannot process unique Rxs
profitably, even if their staff understands what
is required.
Chadwick is a
relatively small lab, yet it services low vision
customers on an international level. How do you
attract such a diverse customer
base?
Word-of-mouth advertising is our
major source of new customers. This is facilitated
by the fact that the community of low vision
professionals is very close-knit. Many of our
customers lecture at conferences and mention
Chadwickís products in their ìwhatís newî
presentations. We provide them with pictures and
data. We were also recently honored to present the
EP Field Expansion lens at the American Academy of
Optometry Press Conference this past December.
Exhibiting selectively at various conferences also
provides exposure.
How did
Chadwick get involved with the Schepens Eye
Research Instituteís project to develop a new lens
design for patients with homonymous
hemianopia?
Eli Peli, OD, senior
scientist at Schepens had been looking,
unsuccessfully, for a lab interested in
co-designing and producing prototype lenses to be
used in various Schepens studies. Chadwick decided
to take on some of these special projects,
including prototypes of the first generation EP
Hemianopic Field Expansion lens that Dr. Peli
initially proposed in 1999. Encouraged by Dr. Peli
to seek National Eye Institute funding to engineer
a marketable hemianopic lens, we applied for a
Small Business Innovation Research grant and
received funding in April 2003.
What is the
goal of the NIH grant?
The overall
goal of the grant is to overcome optical design
and cosmetic obstacles that stand in the way of
innovative optical designs for low vision. The
focus of the grant is to engineer a cosmetically
acceptable, safe and affordable lens to aid the
millions who are affected with hemianopia, a
by-product of stroke, brain tumor or head trauma.
The final design is targeted to be commercially
available in the spring of 2005.
Describe
Chadwickís role in producing the EP Hemianopic
Field Expansion lens.
I am the
principle investigator on the project and Chadwick
Optical has entered into a consortium agreement
with Schepens to conduct mobility studies and
outline fitting parameters to maximize obstacle
detection for the wearer. A driving simulator will
also be used in the study to quantify the effects
of this field expansion lens.
Will Chadwick
be the exclusive source of this lens or will it be
available through other labs, professional offices
or eyecare clinics?
Chadwick will sell
to professional offices and clinics. Other labs
are not likely to be in a position to produce this
lens, given the extensive effort and proprietary
nature of many of the processes involved and at
the targeted price. We encourage interested
professionals to view our web site at www.chadwickoptical.com.
With the aging
U.S. population, the number of people with low
vision is likely to rise significantly. How is
Chadwick positioned to serve that growing
market?
Chadwick is positioned to
serve the portion of the low vision market that
other labs and companies ignore. The visually
impaired population and the professionals serving
them are persistent and dedicated in their search
for solutions. Weíll wait for the people that need
us to find us. This strategy has worked so
far.
Some Chadwick
employees have an immediate family member with
vision impairment or may themselves be impaired.
What do these employees bring to Chadwick in terms
of the customer service, sales and marketing,
quality control or other aspects of the
business?
Our young office
manager is partially sighted. Her husband has had
congenital cataracts and a detached retina. The
finishing room managerís mother is legally blind
as a result of birdshot retinopathy. The engineer
in charge of the grant project, ironically, has
homonymous hemianopia.
We have an
empathetic staff who also recognizes that visual
impairment is usually accompanied by economic
disadvantages. The staff is trained to come up
with creative, modestly priced solutions to
enhance the quality of life of people we serve.
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