Jalalis eye practice keeps focus on patient success

Of the wide variety of patients Dr. Sahba Jalali has seen over the years, one particularly challenging case stands out in his memory.
While practicing optometry in Boise, Idaho, he examined a young woman who had watched a murder happen in front of her.  “She had functional vision loss,” Jalali said.  “There was really nothing wrong with her eyes or the visual system’s connection to the brain, but she just was not able to see because she had seen something really gruesome.”
Jalali said he cried that day on his way home from the office.  While most situations aren’t that dramatic, it always comes down to helping his more than 4,000 patients see their best and keep their eyes healthy.
“When we do that for our patients, they come back,” he said.
Jalali’s optometry practice, Advanced Vision, located in the Village of Cherry Hill, has been nominated for the Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award. The winner will be announced May 1 during a luncheon at the end of Small Business Week.
His patients are diverse, ranging in age from infants to the aged. Jalali demonstrated his versatility and chair-side manner when giving an eye exam to a nervous 4-year-old, Haely Mendez-Florez.
“OK, sweetie, let’s have some fun,” he said to the child before asking her to sit cross-legged to get higher in the chair. “Let’s sit criss-cross apple sauce.” He tested her eyesight by having her identify pictures rather than letters, and when Haely used the Spanish word for bear to correctly match the photo, Jalali was able to start conversing with her in her native language. After the exam, he was able to speak solely in Spanish with the child’s mother.
“We really are committed to patient success first and our success second,” he said during an interview.
Some patients just show up on his doorstep. Many are referred by other practitioners, such as eye surgeons, pediatricians, ophthalmologists, occupational therapists and rehabilitation specialists, he said.   He even sees frustrated patients who have failed the eye exam at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Jalali came to Columbia when his family emigrated here from Iran in January 1979 after its revolution. He went to Fairview Elementary School, graduated from Hickman High School and earned a biochemistry degree at the University of Missouri.  He earned his optometry degree at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, interned at Barnes Hospital, and practiced in Boise before returning to raise children in Columbia, where he started Advanced Vision six years ago.
Optometry is a primary health care

profession, and sometimes people will see their optometrist more regularly than their family physician, he said.  The first symptoms of some major health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors and other neurological conditions may show up first in vision.
Staff training is an important priority.  All of his staff members have college degrees or master’s degrees, or are students, he said, adding that it is not typical to have a highly educated staff in many optometry offices.
“It’s a really sophisticated profession, more sophisticated than I thought from a business perspective,” he said, mentioning the challenge of serving as CEO, COO, CFO, human resources director, marketing director and medical director all at the same time.  “They are completely different skill sets that are required.”
The company’s revenues have grown by 950 percent since 2003, and Jalali plans to add another doctor within the next two years.  The explosive growth is driven by his ability to perform Corneal Refractive Therapy, a technology that employs a therapeutic oxygen permeable lens to improve vision, eliminating the need for eye glasses, contact lenses or surgery.  Jalali said he was the first doctor outside of St. Louis and Kansas City to perform the procedure.

One of Jalali’s patients, David Hubbard, litigation manager for Columbia Insurance Group, nominated him for the Chamber award.  “He’s so patient and people-friendly,” Hubbard said.  “Not only is he an outstanding doctor, but he goes above and beyond in every way.  He exemplifies everything we’re looking for in a small business of the year.”
Advanced Vision provides complimentary eye exams for the Columbia Public Schools, supports the United Way, the Women’s Shelter, the Tiger Scholarship Fund, West Boulevard Elementary, and numerous high school athletic events and fundraisers.  He was awarded the Hickman High School Alumni “Super Kewp” award in 2005 and the Stephens College Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award in 2008.
Jalali remains committed to the Baha’i faith, which emphasizes honesty, trustworthiness and service to humanity.  “This has been a huge part of my business success,” he said.  “I feel the trust of my patients every day.”
He said he appreciates this country’s traditional willingness to welcome immigrants looking for a better life:  “I’m really grateful that my parents, whose lives were in danger and had lost property, immediately found the wisdom of coming to a country that would welcome people who are either fleeing a bad situation or looking forward to bettering themselves and wanting to contribute what they can to this community.”