Wednesday, January 31, 2001

Get your glasses to go

Eye doctor says drive-through window will be a great convenience for patients

By MONROE ROARK
mroark@TheCitizenNews.com

Ever picked up a new set of contact lenses without leaving your car?

Now you can, thanks to the new drive-though window service being offered by Dr. David Johnson at his Eye Care Plus location in Peachtree City.

If the idea of an eye doctor with a drive-through window makes you laugh, you're not alone. Johnson said he laughed when he first heard it from a Jacksonville doctor who spoke at a seminar Johnson attended.

But when the Jacksonville doctor pointed out that about 30 percent of his walk-in business comes from people who are only there to pay a bill or pick up contacts, it made sense. "I checked, and the percentage is about the same at my office," said Johnson.

But Johnson, who shares a building with a Huddle House restaurant on Ga. Highway 54 East, only recently had an opportunity to try this revolutionary new service. A local pizza restaurant on the other side of his office ceased operations, and he leased that portion of the building so he could expand his office.

Adding about 800 square feet, his office now extends to the side of the building, where a walk-in glass door was positioned similar to what might be found at a dry cleaner. During the recent renovations to the office itself, which took about five weeks, the bottom half of the door was bricked in to make a window with a tray for drive-through customers to access.

"We shut down for about three weeks and saw no patients at all," Johnson said of the renovation period, adding that for about two weeks after that, he saw patients who were very understanding of the construction process and came in through the back of the building.

Johnson, who has been practicing in Peachtree City since 1989, thinks that this is an idea that will catch on in other locations.

"It's great for moms who don't want to have to get their kids out of the car, and for people who come when it's raining," he said.