“We have five different offices, and I’ve not been able to recruit a new optometrist,” Dr. Roger Pabst, co-owner of PBR Optical, said last week.
“I’ve said, ‘Okay, Roger, you’re getting older. What are you going to do?’ I’ve not had a lot of success bringing in a new optometrist, so do I just shut down?”
The answer was unveiled today. As of Monday, March 1, PBR Optical in Redwood Falls has a new name: Avera Medical Group Optometry—Redwood Falls.
The changeover has been in the works since last summer, when Pabst bumped into Dr. Curtis Louwagie, an opthalmologist based in Marshall at the Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center.
“I met with Dr. Louwagie, and just casually said, ‘You guys should help me find someone, or buy my office,” Pabst said. “We got together in the fall and started looking into it.”
“Eyecare providers have traditionally been very independent,” said Louwagie, adding that in recent years, running one’s own optometry business has become a nightmare of financing, billing, and regulations.
“I just can’t keep up with it anymore,” said Pabst. “There’s so much coming down the pike these days. (Selling PBR to Avera) will take a lot of headaches from me. I can just be a doctor, not a businessman.”
“Any changes in Redwood Falls will be driven by Roger,” said Mary Maertens, President and CEO of Avera, Marshall Regional Medical Center. “He knows the community, he knows the patients, and what is best for the area.”
Pabst is giving up independent ownership to become an employee again, a decision that wasn’t easy.
“This (PBR Optical) has been my baby. I’ve been doing this for most of my life,” said Pabst. “And it’s not been without emotion that I came to this decision. They’ve been very, very patient with me as I’ve toiled away in my mind about this.”
PBR Optical was started in 1982, when three area optometrists joined forces (Paul, Bob, and Roger, hence PBR.)
PBR currently has offices in five locations: Redwood Falls, Springfield, Mountain Lake, Tracy, and Windom.
Only the Redwood Falls office is affected by the sale to Avera; the other PBR offices will continue as before.
Pabst will continue as optometrist in Redwood as well as the other PBR outlets, while outreach services will be provided by Dr. Curtis Louwagie and other staff based in Marshall.
“Initially, people won’t see a great deal of change,” said Maertens. Avera will eventually be able to add another optometrist, and add opthalmology services.
“We’ll be able to bring in more services into this town, services not available before,” said Louwagie.
When he is treating patients in Redwood Falls, Louwagie will perform surgeries at the Redwood Area Medical Center.
“We’ll do as much as we can locally, in Redwood Falls, in collaboration with other providers,” said Louwagie.
Pabst said, “I get (macular degeneration) patients now who need treatments, but can’t drive to the Twin Cities for the treatments, so they say, ‘I can’t get there, so I’ll just let it go.”
“We’re going to keep what we’ve already got. We’re just going to add more,” said Pabst.
