COA Vision Blog

Dear patients,

After many weeks following Ohio’s Stay-At-Home Order, we are looking forward to welcoming you back to our offices. However, health and safety are still our primary concerns. To best protect you and our team, we are implementing several new safety protocols. Please be aware of the following:

Before your appointment:

Dear patients,

After many weeks of social distancing, we have an important update to share. This week, Governor DeWine announced that certain procedures, including cataract and glaucoma surgeries, will be permitted during the first wave of healthcare system reopenings—beginning on May 4.

These have been deemed “essential” to improving patients’ quality of life. And, indeed, we are anxious to help restore the vision of hundreds of patients who were originally scheduled for surgery in March and April. We will also begin to see patients who have been referred to us or who have a history of cataracts to determine the next steps in their care.

We will begin this transition slowly, but in a thoughtful, deliberate manner to minimize additional schedule changes. We do plan to resume more “routine” eye care soon—including the reopening of our optical department. Please know that we are taking every safety precaution possible as we move forward to protect you, our doctors, and our staff.

As of this morning, here are the changes that will begin on May 4 at Columbus Ophthalmology Associates:

Our phone and surgery schedulers will begin to call all patients who were “on the books” for surgery. It is important to us that we can reschedule your surgery in a timely, orderly, and convenient fashion and that you have someone to take you to surgery. Please wait for our team to call you rather than trying to reschedule yourself as we do not want to overwhelm the scheduling team with calls. We greatly appreciate your cooperation with this matter.

We are also making accommodations for those who need to visit their eye doctor prior to surgery. To adhere to Governor DeWine’s social distancing orders, we ask that only the patient enters into our building. One of our staff members will greet you in the lobby area with a protective mask on (and we assume all patients will be wearing masks as the governor has suggested). We will screen you to ensure that you do not have a fever or a cough before bringing you into the exam area. After your exam, our doctors will go over your treatment options. If you need surgery, we will arrange to discuss this in more detail with whoever will be bringing you to your surgery. After every patient, we will be disinfecting each exam area. And, we will have hand sanitizer available in all public areas for your convenience.

At Columbus Ophthalmology Associates, we have always strived to provide you with the highest level of surgical techniques and the fastest recovery processes. Your safety and health have always been our top priorities. In these regards, truly nothing has changed.

As we work to comply with official CDC guidelines, recommendations from other governing health organizations, and Governor DeWine’s mandates, we ask for your patience and understanding. We thank you in advance and are truly honored to be your doctors. Be safe—we look forward to seeing you soon.

Warmly,
The COA team

Dr. Charles Hickey grew up in Parma, Ohio. He majored in chemistry at The Ohio State University before graduating from OSU’s College of Medicine in 1979.  After his internship at Riverside Methodist Hospital, he returned to Ohio State to complete his residency in ophthalmology at The Havener Eye Institute.

For the past 38 years, Dr. Hickey has been performing cataract surgery and managing patients with diabetic eye disease in central Ohio. A strong advocate for patients, he has served as President of The Ohio State Medical Association, Mt. Carmel Hospitals’ Medical Staff, and the Columbus Medical Association. Currently, he sits on the American Medical Association Council on Constitution and Bylaws and is the Chair of the Quality Committee for the Mount Carmel Health System Board. We are so proud to have him affiliated with Columbus Ophthalmology Associates.

Hunter House

A father of nine and grandfather of two, Dr. Hickey has many interests outside of his clinical duties, including botany and gardening. After raising his family in Upper Arlington, where he served as “Tree Commissioner”, Dr. Hickey and his wife, Susan, purchased and restored a homestead that was originally built by physician and businessman, Dr. Obed Horr, in 1850. After Dr. Horr passed away, the home and farm were purchased by Vincent Hunter in 1863 with monies earned by selling grain to the Union Army. The Hunter family occupied the home for seven generations until Dr. Hickey and his wife purchased it in 2009.

Known as “Hunter House”, this unique, Greek Revival/Italianate style home sits on twenty-four acres of original farmland along the banks of the Little Darby Creek. There, Dr. Hickey and his wife are only a walk away from all the Mechanicsburg village amenities and are 24 miles away from the Dublin COA office.

“The Hunter family modified their home extensively from 1863 until approximately 1908, adding French Renaissance detailing in the front parlors and Tiffany-style art glass and quarter sawn oak woodwork in the plainer rear portions of the house.”

Since purchasing the home, Dr. Hickey and his wife have worked hard to update and restore the Hunter House. They’ve added modern touches while retaining the architectural and stylistic details that make Hunter House unique. “We replaced a kitchen/summer kitchen wing with new build construction to accommodate modern kitchen and baths. But, the second floor still has its unaltered Greek Revival architectural finishes.” 

Particularly interesting is Hunter House’s connection to art. In 1879, Vincent Hunter commissioned a painting of his property from the artist, Henry Dousa. The painting depicts the house, outbuildings, and three cows in the front yard. 

Nearly one hundred and fifty years since that painting was commissioned, Dr. Hickey and Susan had three red wire cow sculptures commissioned in 2016 from the artist, Tim Rietenbach of the Columbus College of Art and Design. “The sculptures spent the summer of 2015 floating in the Scioto River at North Bank Park to celebrate the City of Columbus bicentennial.”

Now, the three cow sculptures reside on Dr. Hickey’s property—placed in the exact locations depicted in the painting. What a wonderful way to recreate and memorialize Henry Dousa’s historic artwork!

Since purchasing Hunter House, Dr. Hickey has planted and nurtured trees, has tended to his very large garden, and has held numerous private tours of this wonderful property. Enjoying all the benefits of rural life on his homestead, Dr. Hickey is truly a modern Renaissance Man!