Deborah Levine, a certified ophthalmic technician (COT) with Crane Eye Care, has been awarded a 2004 continuing-education scholarship from the Joint Commission on Allied Health personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO), for her winning essay, “How Does Certification Improve the Value of
Deborah Levine, a certified ophthalmic technician (COT) with Crane Eye Care, has been awarded a 2004 continuing-education scholarship from the Joint Commission on Allied Health personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO), for her winning essay, “How Does Certification Improve the Value of Ophthalmic Care?” Levine will use the scholarship to attend JCAHPO’s annual continuing- education program in New Orleans, held in conjunction with the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual meeting next month. Dr. Timothy B.
Crane and other Crane Eye Care staff members will also attend this educational event to update and refresh their knowledge and skills to better care for their Kaua‘i patients.
Levine’s essay described her communications with the Makana Eye Foundation in Honolulu on Sept. 11, 2001 and the subsequent efforts required, despite the shutdown of all air traffic, to obtain donor tissue for corneal transplant surgery already scheduled for Sept. 13, 2001 on Kaua‘i.
She wrote, “For the strict identification purposes, I was asked my name and title. It was critical for me to have my certification.” With coordination between the Federal Aviation Administration office in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Coast Guard on O‘ahu, the donor tissue was flown to Lihu‘e Airport on Sept. 13, 2001, one of only a handful of flights allowed in the United States on that day.
A Lions Club volunteer was cleared to receive it for ground transportation to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital at the West Kauai Medical Center for the transplant surgery.
Levine graduated Magna Cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa from Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pa., in 1977. She began working in the field of ophthalmology in 1985, receiving her certification in 1987.
Before joining Crane Eye Center in 1994, Levine worked for two years at the renowned Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.
The scholarship from JCAHPO was made possible by the Delta Gamma Foundation, whose leaders’ main focus is eye care, meeting the needs of those visually impaired, supporting education and research involving sight preservation, and promoting public-awareness programs in the area of vision needs.
