Seeing through the patients' eyes

By BRIAN WALKER

BJNI Writer

Optometrist Ray Greene believes he was the first unofficial local eye care provider to offer his patients a cuppa joe from a Keurig coffee maker.

Fast forward more than 20 years later, the owner of Vision Source in Coeur d'Alene still sees the need to take patient satisfaction to another level.

Greene's firm is breaking ground in March on a $1 million, 4,800-square foot facility on Schreiber Way in Coeur d'Alene next to Ginno Construction. The facility should be ready for customers in August or September.

The building will be two and a half times bigger than the current business at 850 W. Ironwood Dr. across from Kootenai Health.

"I'm taking cues from the Apple store," said Greene, referring to the layout and feel of the future facility. "I believe that patients come first. We don't have a lot of rules here. We just make it right and look at it from their side."

Greene said the goal will be to have patients flow in one direction during their visit. There will be at least one communal table to display frames. Staff members will have check-out tablets. All the paperwork and phone management will be handled in a back office so clients won't hear phones or see clutter.

"It will be more of a concierge setup with a circular flow design," Greene said. "Looking at frames can be overwhelming so we want to spread them out in a much bigger area to display them differently."

And there's another idea to boost personal comfort — and quench your thirst.

"We may even offer beer at certain times of the day," he said.

The exterior will have an "industrial modern" look with metal, wood and rock in the design.

"My office will have a similar design and look (of the Ginno building)," Greene said, adding that Ginno will construct his facility.

Greene said he likes the location because a banker told him that the nearby power intersection of U.S. 95 and Kathleen is the center of Coeur d'Alene's population.

"I have to admit that virtually every time I mention the move to a patient, they say the new location will be easier on them," he said, adding that patient accessibility should be improved from the existing location.

Greene said he’s excited to blend in with the evolving business center on the loop that also includes Coeur d'Alene Cellars Winery and Tricksters Brewing. A future restaurant is also a possibility in the area.

Vision Source has nine employees, including Optometrist Lindsay Hamlin.

Greene estimates that his business is now split evenly between the clinic side and retail.

"At one time, it was 70 to 80 percent retail, but it's becoming more and more medical," he said, citing an increase in diabetic eye care and the senior population as factors. "A lot of the medical eye care has shifted toward optometry."

Vision Source is a franchise consisting of about 4,000 eye doctors. Some of the operations use the Vision Source name, while others don't. Greene has operated his business since 2001.

"I'm part of a group that helps me compete," he said. "We share ideas of what we should do in our practices."

When competing against online contact lens and eyeglass companies, Greene believes he has a distinct edge.

"I'm confident that I can beat them or come awfully close to their prices, but I know that I can out-service them," he said.