Three surgeries plus new glasses, it’s all good
Greg Kossow is a former retail manager and district supervisor, so he understands the value of providing consistently exceptional service. That’s why he’s eager to share the positive experiences he’s had at BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists.
“I strongly recommend them, strongly recommend,” he says. “Relax. Put yourself in their hands. They’ll take care of everything, absolutely everything.”
Kossow, who lives in Allouez, has had successful cataract surgery on both eyes with Dr. Camille Almond, an ophthalmologist with BayCare Clinic.
Cataracts occur when the clear, transparent lens inside the eye turns cloudy, causing blurred vision. The clouded lens changes the way light enters the eye. Left untreated, a cataract can cause blindness or a serious eye disease such as glaucoma.
“Eye surgery just scared me a little bit,” Kossow says. “Dr. Almond was very calming. She explained the procedure, what it would do, what it wouldn’t do. She answered my questions. She answered my wife’s questions. I just felt like I trusted her. I just trusted her.”
Team approach put him at ease
He’s also had surgery to repair a detached retina with a BayCare Clinic eye specialist who has since retired. After that procedure, Kossow again saw Almond, this time for follow-up care.
“I got an appointment with her and she again checked both eyes,” Kossow says. “She was very thorough. I didn’t feel rushed. I felt very comfortable. I felt like I was the only patient she had.”
The visit was routine but he needed an expert’s measurements for glasses. Kossow was sent to Dr. Elizabeth Congdon, an optometrist with BayCare Clinic. She confirmed a pre-existing misalignment of Kossow’s eyes and prescribed prism, used in eyeglasses for some people with diplopia, or double vision.
Getting glasses was great, too
When Kossow needed glasses, he worked with Kelly Kornely, a dispensing optician with BayCare Clinic.
“Again, she made me feel like I was the only patient she had,” Kossow says. “It was an appointment. You didn’t have to stand and wait like a next-in-line type of thing.”
He received his glasses within two business days, a pleasant surprise. He thought it would take longer.
“I’ve been wearing glasses for maybe, what, 50, 60 years?” Kossow says. “This by far was the best fit and best-looking, if you will, and performing set of glasses that I have had and that I can ever remember.”
‘I gotta say thank you’
Kossow, who is in his early 70s, says his experiences with BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists have been so positive that he wanted to let everyone know.
“I gotta say thank you to somebody,” he says.
“The way these people were so caring and concerned, they were there for me,” he says. “I just felt like I was almost being mothered a little bit, like, ‘We’ll take care of you … that’s fine. We’ll take care of it.’”
That hadn’t been his experience elsewhere, he says.
“Now I realize, looking back, how rudely I was treated at the other places,” he says with a laugh.
Kossow knows he’s in better hands at BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists. “Absolutely, absolutely,” he says.