Approved 08/28/04

 

Minutes of

North Carolina State Board of Optometry

August 5 - 9, 2004

Jane McKimmon Center

Raleigh, North Carolina

 

 

The North Carolina State Board of Optometry met in Raleigh, North Carolina Thursday, August 5 through Monday, August 9, 2004 to conduct the Summer 2004 Clinical/Practicum Examinations at the Jane McKimmon Center on the Campus of North Carolina State University and for other purposes.  Present were Drs. David Baxter,  President,  Ms. Trudy Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer and Drs. David Anderson,  Joel Banks, Scott Edwards,  and William Rafferty,  Members of the Board.   Present as Staff were John D. Robinson, OD,  Executive Director, Janice Peterson, RN,  Administrative Secretary and Mrs. Sara Roberts, Administrative Assistant.  Mr. Johnny Loper, the Board’s Attorney, was present on Saturday evening to meet with the Board, following the end of  Saturday’s examination sessions, to discuss with the Board in closed session current litigation. 

 

Present for the station set up and orientation on Thursday afternoon were the following Clinical Examiners:  Drs. Tom Bull, Kenny Bumgarner, Ania Hamp, David King, Don MacQueen, Maggie Metwalli, Sandra Moore, Brett Munn, Eric Oberdorf and Robert Rosenstein.  Present as observers were Dr. Scott Philippe (on Friday), Dr. Alan Price (on Saturday), and Dr. James Williams (on Sunday).

 

At its first business meeting on  Saturday evening following the second day of examinations, the President called the meeting of the Board to order at 7 P.M.  On a motion by Dr. Banks, seconded by Dr. Rafferty and carried unanimously the Board went into Closed Session in accordance with the provisions of  the Administrative Procedures Act, specifically  G.S. 143-318.11(a)(3), to discuss matters of litigation with its Attorney. 

 

Closed Session.   In closed session, Mr. Loper discussed with the Board the current status of the litigation with the Medical Board.  After Mr. Loper provided his analysis and responded to questions from the Board Members on matters of legal positions and legal advice, the Board voted to return to open session a 8:20  P.M.

 

Report of the Probable Cause Committees   There were two Probable Cause Committees, one consisting of Ms. Mitchell, Dr. Robinson and Mr. Loper, the other consisting of Dr. Rafferty, Dr. Robinson and Mr. Loper.  The Committees met separately in the offices of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice, first with Dr. Mark Flora and his attorney, then  with Dr. Joseph Bazemore and his attorney .  Ms. Mitchell and Dr. Robinson reported for the Committee in the matter of Joseph Bazemore, O.D.  On a motion by Dr. Anderson seconded by Dr. Edwards and carried unanimously, the recommendations of the Committee were approved and the Executive Director was instructed to have the Board’s Attorney forward the letter of concern with the conditions set forth therein to Dr. Bazemore for his signature. Dr. Rafferty and Dr. Robinson reported for the Committee in the matter of Mark Flora, O.D.  On a motion by Dr. Edwards seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously, the recommendations of the Committee were approved and the Executive Director was instructed to have the Board’s Attorney forward the letter of concern with the conditions set forth therein to Dr. Flora for his signature.

 

Review of Complaints.  The Executive Director reported that no new complaints had been received since the last meeting of the Board.

 

Approval of Minutes  On a motion by  Dr. Edwards seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously, the Minutes of the Meeting held in Myrtle Beach June 3 – 6, 2004 were approved.  On a motion by Dr. Edwards seconded by Ms. Mitchell and carried unanimously, the minutes of the Annual Meeting held on June 30, 2004 held by conference telephone were approved.

 

Clinical Examiners Honorarium.  On a motion by Dr. Banks seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously, five days honorarium, travel and meal expenses for the Clinical Examiners were approved.

 

Report of the  President  The president had no formal report.  .

 

Report of the Secretary/Treasurer    Ms. Mitchell presented the Budget Reports for the periods 07/01/04 through  08/2/04.    Following the answering of questions, a motion was made by Dr. Banks and seconded by Dr. Anderson  that the report of the Secretary/Treasurer be accepted.  The motion carried unanimously.

 

The report of the Executive Director   The Executive Director reported that the appropriate amendments to the professional corporation of Doctors Vision Center, O.D., P.A. to allow it to become a professional corporation whose stockholders consist of both ophthalmologists and optometrists had been approved based upon their filing the amended articles and by-laws with the Medical Board and the submission of these amendments to their articles currently on file to this Board.  He gave a brief report on the information he had received concerning the action of the General Assembly’s making funds available to UNC Pembroke for the establishment of a school of optometry at that institution.  Further information will be sought and provided to the Board as early as possible.  In concluding the report he informed the Board about his recent meeting in the Board office with Mr. David Henderson, the Executive Director of the Medical Board.  The meeting was quite cordial and was helpful in that lines of communication between our two Boards are open; however, there was no movement toward a resolution of the litigation now pending.  On a motion by Dr. Banks seconded by Dr. Rafferty and carried unanimously, the report of the Executive Director was accepted.

 

The following individuals, their applications having been approved, appeared for examination:

                                   

 

                        Chinwendu Anukwuem

                        Angela Holland Bergin

                        Krystal Pusser Bragg

                        Sara Brigman

                        Stacy Jill Bumgarner Bryant

                        Laura Nicole Burke

                        Paul John Vincent Burt

                        George Nathan Butterworth

                        Lila Milland Cantrell

                        Michael David Carstens

                        Jamie Joseph Casper

                        David James Coward

                        My Thuan Do

                        Chad James Douglas

                        Shirin Esmail

                        Bruce Lee Gladstone

                        Jason Aaron Gould

                        Mala Gundecha

                        Victoria Yu-Fung Ha

                        Benjamin Lanier Hobbs

                        Stacy Renell Humberson

                        Cynthia Dawn Inman

                        Luc Emmanuel Kanicky

                        Jee Me Kim

                        Glenn Arthur Klaus, Jr.

                        Lisa Claire Ledet

                        Alexa Rawlings Lupfer

                        John Michael Melnyk

                        Vanessa Marie Mills

                        David Michael Mitchell

                        Sallie grist Mitchell

                        Kimberly Rae Parks

                        Bruce Alan Pate

                        Sanjay Bipinchandra Patel

                        Hitendra Prahladbhai Prajapati

                        Kyle Matthew Schaub

                        Eva Shiau

                        Jessica Faye Sirak-Smith

                        Keisha Chermise Smith

                        Floyd J. Stewart, III

                        Arun Thoppe Subramanian

                        Jennifer Robyn Switak

                        Robert Michael Szypczak

                        Melissa Mokhadere Tanbakuchi

                        Jared Andrew Taylor

                        Alex Michael Wahl

                        Crystal Gayle Whittington

                        Jeffrey Scott Wilkins

                        Eric Yopp

                        Michael Qui Hui Xu

 

 

NEW BUSINESS   Dr. Baxter announced that for personal reasons he was resigning as President of the Board.  In making the announcement he thanked the Members for their faith and trust in him by electing him to this position and expressed his regret in having to make this decision.  He then suggested that Dr. Joel Banks be elected to succeed him in the office of President.  There being no other nominations, Dr. Banks was elected President

                                                 

Examination Review.  In the event that there are candidates who wish to review their examination scores following the receipt of the results of the Summer 2004 Examinations, the President appointed Dr. Rafferty to represent the Board along with the Executive Director in conducting the review(s).

 

The next meeting of the Board will be held in Wallace, North Carolina,  August 27 -29, 2004.

 

                                                                                     Approved 08/28/04

                                                                                Wallace, NC