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Eyecare Associates announce vision for 20/20 and beyond

T-R PHOTO BY CHUCK FRIEND
Austin Chadderdon stands in the spot where he and his family lived when his father Dr. Abie Chadderdon built the practice now known as Eyecare Associates

For the doctors, staff and patients of Eyecare Associates, plans are big — BEYOND 20/20!

“20/20 is average vision, but we want more for Marshalltown than average,” said Austin Chadderdon, certified optician, optical manager and business manager at Eyecare Associates.

“Marshalltown deserves the risk we are taking,” he said. “The city was struck by a tornado and we survived. Not a single person hurt. That tornado blew down Main Street lifted right over us and we are still standing. When God gives you grace, you cannot ignore it. We must use it.”

The Chadderdon family feel that the last 34 years have been amazing as they have been blessed with a successful practice that has served tens of thousands of families in Marshalltown and the surrounding area. Doctors and staff have watched each others families grow and flourish.

“We feel proud of the services we provide, but we know we can do better,” an Eyecare Associates statement read. “As we approached the biggest year that will ever touch the vision industry we had to make a choice about our own vision: 1) Pack it up and ride off into the sunset or 2) Go big or go home. Marshalltown is already home to us so we decided to go big.”

Austin Chadderdon talks with one of the staff members, Patti Miller.

The practice will open an office in Conrad once again — more advanced, more versatile than it was before.

The plan is for Eyecare Associates to accept patients at 103 N. Main St. in Conrad before the end of March.

“We will have two staff members for Conrad along with our three docs — Dr. Chadderdon, Dr. Edwards, Dr. Feldman. Those two staff people have worked in corporate offices and are more interested in working for a family practice that treats staff as such,” Chadderdon said. “We will also have many of the same instruments located in the Conrad office for routine exams.”

However that is just part of the plan.

“We will be doing a complete overhaul of our main location in Marshalltown,” Chadderdon said.

The present 5,000-square-foot Eyecare Associates will be extended by 3,000 square feet to the east as expansion plans continue.

Three thousand square feet will be added to the existing 5,000 square feet. This will include a larger, state-of-the-art optical department, doubling medical testing equipment and constructing a staff lounge on the lower level.

Chadderdon said they are doing this to improve efficiency, decrease patient time in the office, create a medical and vision experience like none other and make Eyecare Associates the best practice to work in a reality.

“The new addition will be added to the east end of our building over the parking lot and the present building will get a complete makeover,” Chadderdon said, ” It is a huge risk that we are taking, but we were born in Marshalltown and Beyond 20/20 — we can do more.”

Chadderdon said his father, Dr. Abie R. Chadderdon, graduated from the Southern California College of Optometry in 1981. He practiced four years at Eisenhower Medical Center in Ft. Gordon, Ga., while serving in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 1985. He then joined Dr. Hinson in partnership in Marshalltown. Shortly thereafter, the practice name was changed to Family Eyecare Associates — purchased by Dr. Chadderdon.

“It is definitely a family owned business as we — my dad, myself and sister Ambur and brother Adam — lived in a rundown old white house that stood at the end of what is now our parking lot,” Chadderdon said. “Dad paid an arm and a leg to get that house and was able to build the present Eyecare Associates building on that site.”

The business employs a staff of 23, and hopes to add more as the business grows.

“Being family founded, everyone here is family and our patients are treated that way. We want vision to be the best that it can be and so we are making these investments in our patients, staff and to the community of Marshalltown as we genuinely care about them and the community,” Chadderdon said.

Yet that is only the beginning.

“We provide the best optometric services possible,” he said. “We travel the country with Vision Source to get ahead of technology in order to get ahead of any vision or health issues a patient may encounter. We accept all types of patients regardless of insurance, economic status, race, gender, language and faith. Most practices are driven by optical sales at around 60 percent of their income. We are quite the opposite, our revenue is driven by medical collections.” Chadderdon said the practice is focused on overall health of patients so that no man, woman or child will lose vision.

“We don’t care if you spend $1 or $1,000 dollars on your glasses as long as you are healthy, happy and have the vision you need to chase the life you desire,” he said.

“That tornado touched down on the west side of Main Street. It plowed through our business and homes destroying nearly everything in its path. Black Tire, the Flying Elbow, Fiddle & Whistle, Sub City, Hellberg’s and so much more. We were all impacted. All physical things suffered destruction. but not a single soul was taken. How does that happen? Sometimes God destroys the physical to make room for the metaphysical. There is more to come, Marshalltown,” Chadderdon said.

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