DUANE SHERRILLEditor

A local eye care professional was noted recently for going above and beyond to render an exam, going to the patient when the patient did not want to go to her.

“The patient was autistic and non-verbal,” explained technician Kim McGhee who was at Eye M.D. to assist Dr. Sandra Duckworth in what for many patients would be a routine exam. However, since the 17-year-old patient was nonverbal autistic, it was anything but routine.

McGhee explained that the youth, a student with Tullahoma Schools, was bused over to their office for the exam. But, when they arrived, he did not want to get off the bus.

“It is hard to take some autistic children out of their comfort zone and for him, that comfort zone was the bus,” McGhee explained, noting she was impressed by what happened next and how Dr. Duckworth handled the issue.

“Since he didn’t want to come from the bus to her office, she came to him,” McGhee revealed, noting Duckworth and staff all boarded the bus outside and conducted the exam. “She was crawling over seats and getting to where she could conduct the exam.”

McGhee said the way the doctor made the youth feel at ease was impressive as they were able to smoothly complete the exam and send him back to school.

“I think it’s going above and beyond,” McGhee said. “And, I think the public needs to know when someone does an act of kindness.”