Dr. Joyce Nations of Canton has been elected president of the 700-member Georgia Optometric Association...
Dr. Joyce Nations of Canton has been elected president of the 700-member Georgia Optometric Association (GOA). The election took place during the organization¹s 2008 annual meeting held June 5-8 in Sandestin, Florida.
Dr. Nations received her Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Optometry in 1993. She also received her Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Alabama in 1993 and her Bachelor of Science degree from North Georgia College and State University in 1989.
Dr. Nations has been in private family practice since 1993 with office locations in Canton and Dawsonville. She is an active member of the Canton Lions Club, Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce and the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce. In recent years she received recognition as Associate Director for the Georgia Lion¹s Lighthouse and Director¹s Award of the Canton Lions Club. Dr. Nations has served as the 9th district Trustee for the GOA for 6 years and has also served as the Membership Chair. She served as the chairman of the Board of Trustees for the GOA for 2004-2005, as treasurer in 2006-2007, and as vice-president in 2007-2008.
One of the areas of particular concern for the new GOA president is making sure that school children have healthy eyes and good vision. At the beginning of the last school year, Dr. Nations and other GOA volunteer doctors from throughout the state‹using state-of-the-art equipment set up in the school by several optical supply companies‹provided complete optometric exams including case history, eye health, refraction, focusing ability and eye muscle movement and function to every student at Ringgold Elementary School in Ringgold, Georgia. Students were also provided with all needed eyeglass prescriptions and glasses and those with a detected pathology are being referred for follow-up treatment. "This was a tremendous effort on the part of many people," explains Dr. Nations. "We were able to provide more than 350 Ringgold students with thorough eye exams and more than 150 of them with free eyeglasses. During my year as president, I want to continue to focus attention on the relationship between good vision and learning. If students can¹t see well, they can¹t learn well."