Ronan Eye Clinic continues service for Mission Valley
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RONAN – Each morning during the summer months, as the sun peeks over the horizon, Ronan Eye Clinic Optician James Ofstad climbs on his bike to make the hour-long ride to his Ronan office.
“It’s a peaceful ride in the cold, silent sunrise,” Ofstad said. “A great way to start the day.”
Ofstad received a Bachelors of Science degree in Physics from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. He continued on with his graduate education at Pacific University, receiving his Doctor of Optometry Degree in 1971.
After 40 years of living in Montana, he still holds the desire for adventure near and dear to his heart. When Ofstad came to Montana 40 years ago, he was straight out of college and seeking the thrills and adventure big sky country had to offer. “It was a great adventure as a young, single guy,” Ofstad said with a smile. “Right out of training I wanted to find a place that was socially interesting.”
Equipped with a Chevy van modified into a camper, he set out on the open road practicing optometry as a Commissioned Officer for the Indian Health Service. Ofstad traveled to Montana’s Indian Reservations, setting up his mobile eye care kit wherever he could find space. One memorable moment was when Ofstad rolled into to the small town of Brockton, Mont. during a bitter minus-forty-degree winter day.
“I set up on the school’s stage and when I was doing exams the kids couldn’t play basketball,” Ofstad said with a laugh. “When I was done giving exams to the adults at 4:30, I walked out and saw a bunch of big guys with basketballs under their arms. I just kind of bailed out of there.”
As Ofstad continued to travel the scenic countryside of Montana, he fell in love with the state and decided to put down roost here by opening the Ronan Eye Clinic in Ronan in 1973. Before opening his current location at the corner of Main Street and Fifth Avenue back in 2000, Ofstad’s first office was located on Second Avenue next to the police station. Soon after opening, Ofstad hired part-time employee Arlene Starkel to come in and help two times a week. According to Starkel, many community members were unaware of an eye clinic in Ronan, due to Ofstad’s tardiness at work and lack of a regular schedule.
"He came and went from work as he pleased,” Starkel laughed. “I told him we were going to set up a schedule and from that time on it’s been 9-4.”
“She kicked me into gear,” Ofstad said.
Many changes in the optometry field have come and gone throughout Ofstad’s career, but he says that keeps things exciting.
“When I started I was using blank sheets of paper for patient records,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot of changes in the field. When I started there were eye diseases that we couldn’t do anything about and I had to basically watch them lose their vision, where now we have the tools to help them.”
“Our options were limited and it was pretty frustrating,” he said.
Ronan Eye Care now offers comprehensive eye exams, as the highly experienced staff have the tools to provide digital retinal photography, topography, pachymetry, visual fields testing, treatment of eye diseases, eye surgery, cataract surgery, laser vision correction and emergency eye care.
“I’m continuing my education even after all this time,” Ofstad said. “It makes things interesting. If it was all the same it would get boring.”
Ofstad prides his success on the trust he has developed with generations of families.
“People who move away continue to come back and see us,” Ofstad said. “We have a good repertoire with doctor clinics and hospitals, where we can send patients back and forth.”
He added it’s rewarding to work with generation after generation of families, but the clinic had to get creative with how they filed patient records after they began to accumulate through the years.
“We had to move some families into their own filing cabinets,” Ofstad said with a smile.
As the Ronan Eye Clinic continues to thrive, Ofstad is currently in a multi-year transition to hand fellow optometrist Marcus Simonich the reigns.
“Marcus is fitting in like a glove around here,” Ofstad said. “I’ve seen many doctors like myself come out to Montana in the summer, and after one or two winters, they’re gone.”
“I’m happy to be here, it’s a nice staff, like family,” Simonich said. “I’m lucky to be at a good place where I can become a better doctor.”
With more than 50 years combined experience, most of the clinic’s staff have stayed at Ronan Eye for many years.
“We’re all one big, happy family around here,” Starkel said.
