Wade retires from optometry practice

After nearly two decades serving in the optometry field, Dr. Janet Wade with Portz and Wade Optometry in Red Oak is calling it a career.
Portz made the announcement earlier in June. Her last day was June 27. Wade, a Nebraska native, has always served in the medical field, though not always in optometry.
“I was a nurse before becoming an optometrist. I went back to school in my 30s to Philadelphia, and I came back to Omaha and was working there. I did lots of different things in nursing, but honestly, it was tough seeing people pass, so that’s why I left the hospital base. I did some other community-based nursing jobs,” commented Wade.
Wade said she was looking for a job with more autonomy, so she sat down with a dictionary of occupational titles.
“It’s a book the department of labor puts out that has all the occupations. I went to the medical field. Knowing what I like and don’t like, I had narrowed my choices down to optometry and veterinary medicine. At that time, veterinary medicine was extremely difficult to get into. So, I chose to pursue optometry, and that’s when I went to Philadelphia and studied optometry,” explained Wade. “I was really thrilled with how medically-based optometry is. Your eyes aren’t islands in your body. A lot of things that happen systemically are impacting your eyes and vice-versa. My nursing background helped me out a lot, and I was never afraid of patients. I ask patients a lot of questions. It lets you get to know them, and they become a friend when you see them regularly.”
In was in the early 2000s that Wade and her husband decided they wanted to move out into the country.
“We moved to Iowa in 2004. We were both working in Omaha, and then in 2005, I started working with Dr. Portz at his office,” Wade stated.
She added it was an amazing feeling when she was able to have a breakthrough with one of her eye care patients and aid them in their sight.
“It was very rewarding. It may sound like a pun, but the patient can truly “see” what you’ve done when they leave your office, with new glasses or new prescriptions. Beyond that, having the patients that are having serious ocular issues that are impacting the long-term viability of their vision, it was important to be able to get them to the appropriate specialty source, especially when you encounter a patient that has a serious problem. It meant a lot to me knowing they were getting the appropriate care when you sent them out,” advised Wade.
While there were many rewards, Wade said there were some instances when she had to share bad news with a patient.
“The worst ones were always when I had to tell a patient they didn’t qualify to drive anymore. I truly hated that. In this area, if you live in one of the outlying small towns, you don’t have options. The small towns sometimes don’t have a grocery store, and the medical community was not there. If they couldn’t drive anymore, that was just awful.”
Over the years, Wade said she’s seen cases that were sad, or bizarre, and had happy outcomes.
“It was fun when I was able to give a pair of glasses to a child and have them tell me that they didn’t know trees had leaves. There was one little boy that had a really high prescription, and no one knew it. After he got his glasses he excelled in school, and had a completely different personality. It was rewarding to know that I helped people out like that.”
Wade said there were a few factors that led her to decide that now was the time for her to retire.
“My husband passed away five years ago, and we have an acreage. I knew at some point I’d need to retire, and my license expired at the end of June. I felt I was at the age where it was time, and I decided if I was to retire I wouldn’t need to renew my license. This will allow me to retire on my own terms, and there are things I want to do,” Wade commented.
Wade says she has a variety of plans as she enters this new phase of her life.
“I will be moving, as I know that I don’t want to stay on my acreage by myself. While it’s a place that I love, and while I love my neighbors and community, I’m going to move to the Grand Island, Neb., area where I have family and get involved in that community, and spend time with the grandkids. I’ll get a house, and I want to have a garden and flowers, and I’m thinking of a variety of volunteer things I can do. It’s a big enough community that I think I’ll have a lot of opportunities there,” Wade said.
While she’s ready to move to the next phase, there are some things that Wade said she’ll miss.
“I’ll definitely miss working with the patients and the staff. It’s been a good experience. There are so many patients here that I’ve worked with that are my friends. That will be difficult to leave,” Wade stated.
Wade said she was thankful over the years for all of her patients, and said they have been very good to her.
Wade also added that Dr. Michael Portz will continue the practice, and he is currently in the process of looking for a new doctor to replace Wade.
“I’m hoping to find someone sooner rather than later. I have been looking through some prospects to find someone that can help carry on her work, but nothing is decided as of yet,” said Portz.
Wade said she had full confidence that the patients will be in good hands.
“For our regular patients, they’ll get a second opinion in-house. Every doctor has a little different philosophy and way of looking at things. When they see Dr. Portz, or the new doctor, they’ll have the benefit of a second in-house opinion. This is a great practice. Dr. Portz has done a great job. He was practicing about 20 years before I joined him, and the staff is excellent. Everyone here is caring, hard-working, productive, and knowledgeable,” Wade explained. 
Portz praised his time working with Wade and the help that she provided for all of her patients.
“Janet has done a great job and we’re going to miss her services. She developed a nice following and has been a great addition to our practice and our community. We all wish her well on her retirement,” Portz said.