Questions, answered

No. The Tennessee licensing board for dispensing opticians regulates licensing and the rules and regulations for dispensing opticians. The Tennessee Dispensing Opticians Association (TDOA) is the only association for opticians in Tennessee. We provide continuing education hours throughout the state and monitor legislation that affects our profession.

You may attend any and all TDOA events of the year with your membership.

TDOA membership includes record keeping of the continuing education hours that you have signed in for and received from our classes presented by TDOA.

An associate member is someone who is not licensed yet but needs the proof of hours for the ABO/NCLE. You may be an apprentice with the state and still have your ABO certification.

Yes. All of our events offer 8 hours.

Your membership fee covers all of the CE credits you may need in a year. That can be 8 or 32. If you can travel to them all and sign in, we will give you credit for them.

The Board of Dispensing Opticians requires proof that each person attended every hour offered. This way the TDOA isn't reporting that people who were not in attendance were at the session.

You will receive an electronic record instead of paper. An email will be sent to you from the TDOA soon after completion of your courses.

When you attend the CE hours, tell Mellissa at the desk that you need the certificates. You will be added to a list, and when the hours are over your certificates will be emailed to you. The ABO/NCLE no longer issues the blue and yellow certificates — you have to download the certificates to your account within 30 days of the CE session.

This is the last event of the current calendar year at which you have the opportunity to receive 8 continuing education hours (CE).

We ask that you register for each event that you plan to attend so that we can have enough seats and food for the event. We will never turn a member away for not registering in advance.

When you walk in, stop at the desk and let us know you are there. If you need to pay, do it at this time. Stop and get your nametag — only those who pre-register get a printed name tag. Then, 10 minutes before the first class, the sign-in sheets will be laid out. If you pre-registered, your name will be printed on them in alphabetical order; sign next to your name. If you did not pre-register, there are blank pages at the end to sign in on. Sign in for every class you attend to ensure you get your credit. When the day is over, turn in your name tag. The attendance will be verified and the CE letter will be sent to your email.

We are always happy to accept help. You can get in touch with an officer or director in your area, or call headquarters and start by helping at a chapter meeting. If you have been a TDOA member for three years, you can be nominated to be a part of our board of directors.

The TDOA keeps a lobbyist to watch out for any legislation that may come up and put the licensing board in jeopardy. It is important for the profession and for the patients that opticianry remains a licensed profession.

The Opticians Political Action Committee is a group that collects funds to donate to politicians via the lobbyist to help keep our profession licensed. 100 percent of the donations to the PAC go to a fund held separately from the TDOA funds; the two associations are not affiliated at all. If you would like to volunteer to be a part of the PAC committee, you can — the volunteers raise money and decide use of the funds with the lobbyist. If you would like to donate, there is a link on our homepage to donate online, or you can fill out a form and donate at a meeting. Every donation has to come from a private person, not a company, and it has to have all information filled out to account for it later.

By joining with other Tennessee opticians, you create a constituency that represents your professional needs and concerns. Whether you are affiliated with a national chain or an independent operation, you cannot afford to ignore the effect that public policy makers have on the future of your business. Only through collective political action can we ensure that our lawmakers hear the voice of the optical industry.

Led by Theo Morrison, he and the PAC committee carefully review candidates for public office. Decisions are based on input from local opticians regarding the candidate's qualifications and background, analysis of previous election returns to determine the partisan strength of a district, input from the TDOA lobbyist and legal counsel on an incumbent's previous support of TDOA legislative objectives, and — most importantly — the interest a candidate shares with the optical industry in providing licensed, high-quality, competitive optical services to Tennesseans.

Yes, you should, but don't overlook the greater impact you gain by pooling resources with your colleagues. One voice may speak loudly, but by pooling the resources of opticians statewide, legislators will hear a much louder and unified voice for a concentrated effect in key districts. OptiPAC provides the mechanism for a well-organized, effective effort that coordinates the collective interests of the optical industry in Tennessee.

If you are a Tennessean, you are not eligible for a tax benefit. But you do receive the benefit of knowing that you are making a difference by helping to elect individuals who believe in the practice of opticianry.