March 2007
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All eyes on Waltham
In January, Children's Hospital Boston's Department of Ophthalmology expanded its optical offerings with the opening of the new Eye Center at Children's Hospital Boston at Waltham. "We designed the Eye Center from scratch, with kids in mind," says David Hunter, MD, PhD, chief of Ophthalmology. "Sometimes doctors need to get down on the floor and crawl around after kids in order to get just the right look at their eyes." As a result, the center's floors are almost entirely carpeted, from the plush waiting room that's filled with books and toys to the exam rooms themselves.
The technology used in the exam rooms is tailored to kids, too: Doctors can use hand-held devices to check the eyes of patients too fidgety to sit still with their heads in a vision-testing machine. There's also a bright, colorful pediatric eyewear shop, run by Medford Optical, with hundreds of little frames for little faces, all displayed on low shelves for the browsing convenience of its pint-sized patrons. With all of its kid-friendly elements, some at the center wonder whether children might start to enjoy their visits a little too much. "We've actually had some kids start crying because they don't want to come out of the waiting room," Hunter says.
