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 EyeCare
Associates is sad to announce the retirement of one of its founding
members. After nearly 35 years of practicing ophthalmology, Dr.
Jerry Parrish is retiring to Austin. We all miss Dr. Parrish, but
wish him well. On a happier note, we are welcoming two new doctors
to our EyeCare group. Dr. Jeffrey Wick will provide patient care
at our Tyler facility while Dr. John Thigpen will head our Jacksonville
office. With the addition of these doctors, EyeCare Associates continues
its commitment to giving our patients the best in innovation and
patient care. Add to that, the introduction of Lasik’s newest
technology called CustomVue WavePrint Mapping, and it’s easy
to see why we are the Regional Eye Care Center for East Texas!
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Stranger to the Tyler area, Dr. Wick was born and raised in Tyler
and graduated form Robert E. Lee in 1986, He is the son of a Tyler
physician, Dr. Paul Wick, and civic leader, D’anna Wick. Jeff
is a 1989 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the Plan II Honors Program
at The University of Texas at Austin. In 1993, he graduated from
the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, where he was
inducted into the Honor Society for Medical School, Alpha Omega
Alpha. He competed his Medicine Internship at PSL Hospital in Denver,
and then completed his ophthalmology Residency at The University
of Colorado Medical School in Denver.
His love of mountains and the outdoors took him to Laramie, Wyoming,
for two years of private practice. In 1999, a grant by the National
Institutes of Health took him to the University of Utah to do a
fellowship in medical informatics and research on glaucoma imaging
and outcomes. He next joined the teaching faculty of the Scheie
Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,
where he was an instructor of ophthalmology and optometry residents
and students. His principle responsibility during those two years
was the design and implementation of a surgical curriculum for teaching
cataract and glaucoma surgery to new residents.
Dr. Wick met his future wife, Melanie Power, at Southwestern Medical
School and they married in 1993 prior to leaving Colorado. Although
they had never met prior to medical school, ironically, Melanie
also grew up in Tyler and graduated from T.K. Gorman. She will practice
Pediatrics part-time with the Trinity Clinic.
Dr, Wick enjoys working with computers and writing software, and
particularly likes implementing new technology into the practice
of medicine. Other hobbies include hiking, fishing and raising marine
fish and invertebrates. His greatest joy—and greatest time
commitment—is raising his young twin sons, Benjamin and Alexander.
We are excited that Jeff ahs chosen to join our flagship institution,
EyeCare Associates of East Texas, and look forward to his welcome
home.
As we have passed the five-year mile marker since
EyeCare’s inception, we have continued to grow in our abilities
to serve our patients both here in Tyler and outside the city. It
has been very exciting to see this growth, but tinged with sadness
as we all miss seeing Dr. Parrish every day.
You will notice above that we have a new physician, Dr. Jeff Wick,
who has recently moved back to Tyler, his home town, to practice
ophthalmology with EyeCare Associates. We are thrilled to have him
here as his coming has facilitated us being able to continue to
take care of Dr. Parrish’s patients in a timely manner. Plus,
Dr, Wick has special training in glaucoma management.
We are opening a satellite office in Jacksonville where Dr. John
Thigpen, a longtime Jacksonville optometrist, will be seeing patients.
Our new facility is at 305 West Rusk. We also will have an optical
shop on site where we can meet your eyeglass needs, closer to home
for some of you. Dr. Wick, our new ophthalmologist, will be seeing
medical and surgical patients on Mondays, beginning September 29th.
Dr. Mack will also be in Jacksonville on selected Thursdays.
Life is certainly not dull here at ECAET! I want each of you to
know that I have a very “open-door” policy and if we
have overlooked something during this period of change, or have
not attended to your every eye care need, please contact me personally.
My daily goal is to live our motto, in everything we see and do.
We Care, You’ll See!
—June Cheatham
EyeCare Associates of East Texas is losing one of
its founders. Many of you have received a letter from Dr. Jerry
Parrish regarding his retirement. We know that the suddenness of
his decision came as a surprise to you as well as to us. But we
had the advantage of knowing that serious family health problems
provoked Dr. Parrish’s decision and we at EyeCare Associates
pray for him and his loved ones.
And so, like you, we say goodbye to a trusted and dedicated physician.
We thank him for his commitment to his and our patients, for his
foresight in helping form EyeCare Associates five years ago, and
for his quiet and measured stewardship as vice president of EyeCare
Associates.
Some of us have known Dr. Parrish for nearly thirty years. During
those years, he has served his patients and his profession unswervingly.
He has constantly sought to better himself as a physician with attendant
benefits to his patients. For you, his patients, he has acted as
a physician, counselor, confidant and friends. For us, his parents,
he has acted in the same roles. He will be missed.
 EyeCare
Associates is proud to welcome Dr. John C. Thigpen to our eye care
team. Dr. Thigpen will manage our new satellite office in Jacksonville.
Dr. Thigpen has worked as on optometrist in Jacksonville for forty-two
years. During that time, he has served generations of patients with
professional, dedicated eye care. We know he will do an outstanding
job as part of our regional eye care network.
Dr. and Mrs. Thigpen have two children. Their son John Scott works
for the state. He and his family live in Jacksonville and have two
sons. The oldest, Anthony, is a buddy biologist at age ten. Alex,
age five, underwent a heart transplant at age six months and is
wonderfully healthy today.
Daughter Jill and family live in New York City. They have one son,
Nicolai, whom they adopted from Russia.
Dr. Thigpen moved to our new Jacksonville office on August 4th.
The new office address will be 304 West Rusk, across the street
from the new post office. The telephone number will remain the same;
(903) 586-9611. Please call if you have any questions concerning
the move.
EyeCare Associates looks forward to a long and valued association
with Dr. Thigpen!
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