Optometrists Stan Andrist, Patrick Williamson and Casey Bartz broke ground Tuesday, Feb. 20, for the new Moorhead Vision Associates building in the Azool Center on Eighth Street South.
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
Moorhead Vision Associates’ days in the mostly darkened Center Mall are nearing an end. By the end of the year, the optometric clinic will be in new quarters at the Azool Retail Center in south Moorhead, just in time to celebrate its 100th birthday.
The clinic has been a stalwart of the Moorhead business community since it first opened its doors downtown in 1924. By this fall, the optometric clinic – believed to be the oldest continuously operated practice in Fargo-Moorhead – will be moving into brand-new quarters at a new address, 855 37th Ave. S. – the Azool Center block along Eighth Street anchored by Hornbacher’s.
“We expect to move in late this fall,” Dr. Stan Andrist estimates cautiously, adding, “With projects like this, you never quite know for sure.”
Andrist and his colleagues, Drs. Casey Bartz and Patrick Williamson, broke ground on the lot last week. It sits squarely between the new First International Bank and the drive-through Starbucks already occupying lots backing up to busy Highway 75.
The optometrists plan an L-shaped facility totalling 13,500 square feet. Their clinic will occupy the 6,000-sq.-ft. space in the center, with additional areas of 3,000 and 4,500 square feet available on either side for lease to other tenants.
The new clinic will be almost 50% larger than their current mall clinic. Says Bartz, “We’ll have a total of six exam lanes – two for each doctor. That will enable all three of us to see patients more conveniently.” Its location at Azool, he says, will be easier for patients to navigate, especially those coming from the Fargo side of the river.
The three doctors began looking for a spot to relocate in June when they received word that Center Mall tenants would be expected to relocate by the end of the year. Moorhead Vision, which owns its condo-style space in the mall, was able to negotiate an extension until the new facility is complete. Meanwhile, the clinic continues to operate in the old mall, along with the Moorhead DMV office, Moorhead Drug, Downtown Chiropractic, Mane Impressions and His Salon.
What remains of the mall is far quieter these days. “It has had no effect on our established patients, but we do get calls asking, ‘Are you open?’” Bartz reports. “Some of them started coming here to see Dr. Larson and Dr. Carlson 50 years ago or more. It does slow down the number of new patients, though.”
Andrist has practiced in the mall for nearly 40 years. A native of Crosby, North Dakota, he attended Pacific University College of Optometry in Forest Grove, Oregon, after graduating from UND. Bartz joined the clinic in 2002 as an optometric technician. The Concordia College graduate left to attend the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago, then returned to the Moorhead Clinic as a doctor in 2010. Williamson, who also attended Concordia, earned his doctor of optometry degree, like Andrist, at Pacific University. He joined the team in 2016.
Bartz observes that the clinic is “heavy into technology.” He says, “All of our patients have digital retinal photography, an image of the back of the eye, when they come in for appointments. It’s very helpful in diagnosing glaucoma, diabetic conditions and macular degeneration. Early detection is the key. It permits us to catch things that are potentially eye-threatening while patients are still asymptomatic.”
Eye drops can often be avoided, he says, thanks to the photography, and eye pressure can be checked without even the puff of air familiar in days gone by. All patient charts going back to 2004 have been digitized, an advance especially useful when the doctors need to access them after office hours and in times of emergency care.
While the clinic maintains office hours from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. five days a week, the doctors also provide urgent-care exams for patients with eye trauma, infections and other emergencies. “We do prefer when patients call to let us know they’re coming in,” he adds.
One of their newer services is orthokeratography (Ortho-k), a treatment designed to reshape the cornea, eventually allowing clear vision without glasses during the day. It’s especially effective for children whose eyes are still developing, he explains. Special contact lenses are worn every night for a period of time. As the child’s eyes continue to develop through about age 20, studies show Ortho-K can permanently reduce the lengthening of the cornea, possibly eliminating the need for glasses and risk of developing other eye diseases over time.
Bartz notes that he and his colleagues see patients from one year old to 102. Many of Dr. Andrist’s patients are older, he observes, since he has practiced here for nearly 40 years. “I’ve been here 14 years myself, and see the whole range, from young to old,” Bartz notes. “Dr. Williamson tends to have many who are younger.”
In addition to the convenient new clinic under construction on the south side of town, Moorhead Vision Associates offers patients the opportunity to make their appointments online with the day, time and doctor of their choice. Find more information at www.moorheadvision.com.
