Living with Vision: Purpose, Service & Legacy with Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs
Hey, it's your eye health experts, Prevent Blindness Texas, and welcome to Eyespiring, a conversation about all things vision and life. Hi, and welcome to Eyespiring. I am Heather Patrick, CEO of Prevent Blindness Texas and your host for today. And we've got a great story to share. I am really excited about this conversation.
Heather Patrick:Doctor Kerri-Ann Coombs is, well, I love how we start off this way, knew from a tender age that her calling lay in the realm of healthcare. And we're going to talk about how you knew that. She witnessed firsthand the profound impact that vision has on everyday living, spurring with her a deep desire to be part of the solution. Her journey began with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Prairie View A and M University, graduated in the class of 2000.
Heather Patrick:And then her path took a winding turn and she ended up going to the University of Houston College of Optometry and graduated in 2009. And then she also became an entrepreneur. So we're gonna dive into all those pieces, but tell us a little more about you.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Well, thanks so much. I'm so happy to be here. A little bit about me, I'm Doctor. Kerri-Ann Coombs. As you mentioned, I was first a nurse, transitioned into optometrist.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And as we unwind this beautiful story during our interview, I am a mom, I am a daughter, I am a child of the king, and I'm just so excited to be here.
Heather Patrick:Me too, I am too. You know, it's funny, I've been here nine years, and you were one of the first names that came across of who I should meet, And you've been involved with PBT ever since I've been here. And I just admire your work, but I also love how you are on social media and you are a magnificent storyteller. So I wanna dive into that too, because that's a skill that takes time to learn. But let's start with where you are in life right now.
Heather Patrick:What's bringing you joy?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So, you know, Heather, what brings me joy is just whatever brings peace, just peace, removing all the noise, all the distractions. So whatever brings peace to my life brings me lots of joy in this season. So simplicity and peace.
Heather Patrick:It's amazing how you get to a certain place in your life. And I think when you're young, you hear people say peace is the most important thing and you don't really understand what that means until you've, I think, taken a journey. And then you get to a certain place and it really is about the simple things in life, right? And finding that peace every day wherever you can. So you have an interesting perspective on vision and healthcare, but what keeps you inspired every day?
Heather Patrick:Because it can be, Well, it is. It's a hard place to be, right? And it comes with both great wins and I think really big challenges. So what inspires you to keep doing this every day?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So what inspires me to do this every day is the big why. Why am I doing this? So with seeing or witnessing my dad's vision loss is my big why. Never wanna see anyone lose their vision. So prevent blindness is important.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I want people to see, not only to see, but to have vision. And vision is a thing that you your it's your mind's eye that you want, but you haven't obtained. So I'm yet reaching for something that I want to obtain. So that keeps me going. I have not arrived yet, so I have to keep going.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, I love that. Okay, so take us back to the beginning. What made you pursue healthcare? What was it that you decided, this is where I need to be?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:You know, Heather, I remember one birthday, my parents, my dad was not there, not because he didn't want to, but he had to go to get eye surgery in Europe, and because he was really fighting for his vision. And at that time, I felt a very internal emotional impact that, hey, you know, can I do something about this? Why is dad losing his vision? And that gave me the empathy for healthcare, the caring for a human being. And that has led me into nursing and then optometry.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And just caring for people's vision and their health means a lot to me.
Heather Patrick:And what did you love the most about being a nurse?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So being a nurse now, the twelve hour shift, I really like that. I do care about caring about people, but I tell you, when you do a twelve, three 12s on, four days off, it's a beautiful life. You can take a trip. You have, like, almost a week off if you plan it right. So I I miss that a lot.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I miss that a lot. I wish I could just take a week off every week, you know, every other week, maybe not every week, then I will not But be besides caring for people, that's something that I really miss, just the flexibility of the hours. I'm a night old, so sometimes I may like to step later. So optometry is a daytime shift.
Heather Patrick:Yes, yes it is. So was there a moment within your nursing journey that stands out in your mind of you knew, okay, I love this, but I'm gonna do something different. And what was that moment?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:You know what, Heather? As a little girl, I remember wanting to help people. But the first thing that came to mind was being a doctor. And then I doubted that first thing. So the transition of me being a nurse, then a doctor, was when I went through nursing school, and I was like, this is hard. If I do this, I can do anything else.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So it gave me the confidence to pursue my initial thought, my initial vision that I doubted that I couldn't do, to go for it, to bet on myself, to try again.
Heather Patrick:That's really interesting. Because when I see you, it's funny how our story is, how it looks on the outside versus the inside. Because when I see you and I listen to you speak and I see you on social media, you are so genuine, so authentic, so confident in who you are, that it's hard for me to see you and believe that you ever doubted yourself because that is When I see you, when I talk to you, you're just radiant and just genuinely just authentic in who you are. And I think that is rare these days.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Well, thank you. Thank you. But yes, I do believe, when greatness is there, you still doubt it. And at some point you just have to relax and embrace it. We are always transforming into a better person, and sometimes we ourselves are fighting back ourselves, our own greatness.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. And carrying our faith, right? Because no matter what, we'll go where we need to go,
Heather Patrick:We have that faith. Yep. So it takes a lot of courage to make that kind of change. So how did you do it? I mean, you're working, you're a mom, right?
Heather Patrick:Now you have to go back to school, right? So how do you make all that work?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So you know what, Heather? It's the thing that keeps annoying your mind that, hey, Hello. Did you did you wanna do that? Did you wanna become that? And it's an internal noise that whispers to you loudly.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Hello. Do you remember the dream that you once dreamt? Are you gonna try? And sometimes you may need you may wanna dim it, may wanna even silence it, but it comes back. And when you become awakening to that, it's freedom.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:It's like, okay, it's a part of your purpose. Because we are yet to find our path, but we have to believe some of the scary things that we're called to do as a part of our purpose, why we are created, why we should even do what we do. And like you said, faith, you know, having the faith, faith is not something that we can grab on or see. It's not the sight, it's invisible. So having that faith to move forward is so important.
Heather Patrick:So what was the hardest part about being a nurse?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:The hardest part about being a nurse was anyone passing away. Yeah. Truly anyone passing away, remember. I still do remember the hardest part being a nurse are people remaining sick. Yeah.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:The hardest part being you didn't ask me, but the hardest part being an eye doctor is people losing vision. So similar, you know, sick not getting better, seeing and going to blind. And so that's very hard for me, for someone not to to get well or to get better or then to have life has ended. So that's very difficult. I will remember dreams, beeping noise while sleeping.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So it kinda puts an imprint in your brain.
Heather Patrick:Dead with your soul.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yes.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. All right, so what advice would you give to someone who's thinking about making that kind of change in their life, going from one profession to another? Well, in the same umbrella industry, but that's a big change. What advice would you give someone?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yeah, you know what, that's hard. And you know, you may not even get the support you need from family members, from the resources that are really intimate to you. So, begins with yourself. Believe in that you you should bet on yourself. You should believe in yourself.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:You should try. You know, one of my biggest fear with transition was fear. I didn't want to fail. I didn't want to not do well. And instead of that being a pushing point, it became oppressed and it pressured me not to do well.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I remember when I took my nursing board exam, I didn't pass the first time because I was panicking and I became fearful. And then the second time, I remember just that has taught me so much during optometry school that I should not operate in fear. Okay? So not operating in fear is a different it's gonna work out. Even if no it matter what it looks like, it's gonna work out for my favor.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:It's all gonna work out. And just operating in that has helped a lot. So they should bet on themselves, never operate in fear, but we always learn something. Even if we fail, we learn a new skill, we learn a new path, and failure is just a direction redirecting you. So it's, you have to learn these skills that you wish to desire, whatever profession you wanna change to, whatever area of life you wanna navigate to, we have only one life.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So let's give it all that we have, what we wish that we could be, let's try it, let's do it. You know? And then you can say, you have never tried it, but you tried and you did not succeed. But do not say that you will not try because you have feared the very thing of failing.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, I love it. Let's do it. Yeah. So tell me about your company, your eyewear company, and about naming it after your father and that legacy.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yeah. So De Cordova, which is my dad's middle name, and I love it because his name is Bernard Decordova Coombs. So I like that's in the middle because life is in the middle. We live, we have a life, then we end. And Decordova is his name.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And it's more of a legacy. It reminds me why I do what I do. And it's a source of even heritage and who I am as a Jamaican. We're from Jamaica. And so, you know, it represents just what it means to when I remember his name, just everything all in one, right?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:De Cordova. And many patients may not know why the name is there, but it means a lot and it's a part of When you see that daily, it kind of reminds you when you forget why you do what you do.
Heather Patrick:It's your why. So talk more about how your father losing his vision, how that shaped you personally, and then obviously professionally it did. But tell the audience what it's like firsthand to watch someone lose their vision.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yeah, that was extremely hard, not being able to get retained vision from a pair of glasses. Because most time as looking on the other end, as a daughter, not a doctor, I can I was like, okay, they can do something about it, right? Eye drop, pair of glasses, transplant, something, right? But unfortunately, not everything can be replaced or regained vision. So that was very shocking and that was very painful.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I remember giving my dad his first exam. I was in optometry school and I was doing my last year. And I was like, wow, I didn't even notice that my dad, the degree of vision that he had. He had no vision in one eye and only 20 degrees of vision in the other eye. But this man was so strong.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:He was brave. He was confident, and he was driving. Now he shouldn't have been. Now I remember why at 16 years old, he would have me drive him everywhere. He was like, Kerri-Ann, take me to work.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Take me here. Take me there. But just the courage that he had to do all that he had to do because he had to provide for a family and he had to do many things that he didn't want to give up his daily habits and daily skills, but vision loss can do that. It can take away your daily habits, your daily skills that are just simply just driving, eating, grocery shopping, just the simple things of life.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, changes it dramatically, doesn't it?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yep, it does.
Heather Patrick:So in terms of your own personal journey, how you think that influences your approach to healthcare. So you talked a little bit about you've learned the empathy component just by living it, right? And then becoming a nurse and having it. But how do you think overall it shapes your approach to healthcare?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:It definitely did. I view patients as a holistic body. Looking at blood pressure meds, looking at gaze, how you walked in, you know, and just the overall health. That helps me to tie the two together. Because sometimes we're missing that aspect in healthcare, you're just an eye, but we're a body which all organs are connected to.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And so that is something that I constantly educate is health. You know, even during an eye exam, we check blood pressure and I educate about the blood vessels at the back of the eyes, the vascular system, how that connects to your blood pressure, your blood sugar, your cholesterol, many aspects of the body. So I view it as a holistic view for healthcare, which is with eye care. And the eye is the only, only, only place that you can see blood vessels, which is the eye is the window of the entire body. So amazing.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So I am blessed to be an eye doctor, which can show all this healthcare aspects. So tying the health with optometry and eye is simply amazing. And I always am open to learning more.
Heather Patrick:So talk a little bit about, you know, when you took this jump onto social media. I mean, you are so brilliant and you've been doing it for a while now. So where did that come from? Right? I mean, how did you make that jump?
Heather Patrick:What prompted you? How do you stay relevant? How do you stay up to what's happening? So talk a little bit about that because I think that is really There are not many eye doctors that are on social media that are sharing their life and their story and their impact like you are.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:That's so surprising. So another, thing that you may not know about me, I'm an introvert. So
Heather Patrick:I don't believe that. I don't believe that at all. I am too though, by the way. Yeah.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I'm totally introvert. So, you know what? These posts are my creative side. I love to create. And so in the creative side, it's very natural.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And yes, I have been doing it for a while. And I remember people, it was like, oh, don't post that. But no, I'm very professional about it. I want to educate while entertaining. When we look at things, love entertainment.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Right? Like to know what's going on. Whenever I will look at something, I was like, oh, that is beautiful. That would be great. And I just do it.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And I don't question I tend not to question it too much. If I get the idea, I just build on it. Now I have to execute it and just do it. It doesn't have to be perfect. Like, we always want things to be perfect.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And you know what? The most perfect images don't do the best is the authentic, real. I tend to use less filters. I do more natural. When I do do filters, it's every now and then, but just letting people embrace who they are.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:We are so beautiful. We are created with greatness. And when we are creative, we are created to create. And the creative aspects of what we do is very important. To birth new conversations, to birth new things is super important.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I make time to birth this video today because I know creation is important. This video will live on for many years, will inspire when you and I, Heather, are all gone. It will inspire someone else. So when we create images, that is a snapshot of now, which gives history, which gives memory, and it's just, it tells so much. And you know, an image, which is social media or images, storytelling, and telling, you know, why.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:It's advertisement as well. So with my business, I know that I needed to advertise for my business. This is very free, passive, yet active way to advertise for your business because someone is always gonna look. They may not like it. They may not comment, but they do see it.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yep. They do see it. And then after a while, it becomes a memory. Remember logos. If I say Target, you remember Target's logo.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:If I say Walmart, you remember Walmart's logo because we see that consistently. So as we advertise our business or our life, whatever you your purpose or your life purpose is, you wanna be consistent about that. And that's just natural for me to create and to be there. I am I'm an introvert, but I love creating, and I don't hold it back. At 04:00, I'm like, oh, it's so inappropriate to post at ten.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And guess what? Some of those are the best posts. Whenever I fight the feeling, it's just I just tend to go more natural. If I feel like it, I'm more consistent because it has become a rhythm. So, now time.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:It's more of a rhythm. But I embrace the creativity of it as well.
Heather Patrick:I love that, I love it. You know, it's interesting because, I mean, you have your practice, you have the eyewear. So let's talk a little bit just the practicality of what that looks like for you, right? So running the practice, selling the eyewear. I mean, we haven't had anybody on here who's in that side of the business.
Heather Patrick:So talk a little bit about that. Do you get to do the design? What all is entailed in running an eyewear business? I think that's the fascinating part too. So talk about that, because we haven't I don't know.
Heather Patrick:Teach me, Kerri-Ann, because I don't know.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I know Heather. So for me, I wanted to do this so bad, De Cordova Eyewear. So it's named after my dad. I actually housed this to to birth it later. And then I wanted a optometry bill, a business.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And I was like, well, I already have the eyewear business. And so what we do, we have our own frames. So right now, we just private label our own frames, but that's gonna change in the future. We're gonna be a whole network of our but we're growing into our future. What I did, I just started out with what I knew.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Optometry, that's what I know. I opened up optometry business, the Cordova Eyewear. Yes. We have our own frames. We have other frames, and we do eyewear, and that has been such a journey by itself.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I know how to be a good doctor, but eyewear itself is a new journey, but it is going fantastic. Learning the eyewear and the prescription in the eyewear has definitely enhanced how I see patients as well in their prescriptions, making sure that they have the right prescriptions, making sure that they have the right lenses. So although it is one practice, yes, it could be considered two in one, your optical, your eyewear department, and your optometry, which is medical eye exams and all of that. Yes, and we run all of that in one. And to tell you the truth, Heather, the optical side was so scary at first.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Was running away from it, it was part of the journey and my purpose. And now Heather, I am embracing it. I'm learning more about it. I work, I go to shows, I get to try and it's not about the glasses only sometimes, but just the prescription, be with the labs, and even we have in the house edging. I know how to edge my own lenses.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I don't run away from it anymore. I embrace it, and I'm willing to even learn more. And like I said, we are going to have our own eyewear line later, which is gonna grow beyond here. But yes, we do have our own frame line. We have a few decordoba eyewear, patients wearing our frames out there, branding us in the world, and so exciting, yeah.
Heather Patrick:Now, when the first frames went out, describe that moment for your soul. How did you
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:It felt a very unreal, but refreshing that what you envisioned or dreamt of is you're living that moment. Just an idea that you're living it and that we can do hard things. Whatever we put our heads to, we can do it. And sometimes you just have to be a little bit more patient and persevere and persist in whatever your heart desire is, and it will come to light.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. So, as an entrepreneur, what has been the hardest part for you? So, you're running, so you become a nurse, you become an optometrist, you launch your own business, you have your practice, but what's been the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So the hardest part of being an entrepreneur is that you are truly the ultimate head of it all. You are the head of it all, even your weaknesses. So therefore, you have to find coaches. You have to find people that you trust to do the work that you do not do well, but you have to make that decision. So you are still responsible for all of it.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:No matter what aspect of it it works, you know, you're the head, the fingers, the toes, the knees, you are responsible for it. So anything happens, you're gonna be the the head leading coach, the head leading decision maker for everything. Even if you hire somebody who is the expert, you are still in charge. Even if you have a CPA when tax time come RS and bills are due, baby, they're coming to you. So
Heather Patrick:Yes they do.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Or the lead person. So that alone is like, okay, I have to You are just in charge. You are responsible for it all.
Heather Patrick:Yep. Yep. So talk a little bit about giving back to Jamaica, why that matters so much to you and what that looks like for you.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:That means a lot because as a little girl growing up in Jamaica, I know what Jamaica offers. Jamaica is such a beautiful place, but it's a third world country. And so resources are limited. So a matter of fact, my father, he needed glasses. When I did a reflection, a review, and went back and asked him questions, I said, hey, dad, you know, what was your vision like when you were a child?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:He was like, oh, yeah. I remember when I was a little boy, I used to the kids used to look all the way over the hill and they could see, but I couldn't see us clear. I was like, oh, okay. So he needed vision help services that was not given to him. So if we could start back with the children, that means a lot.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:In the end, that means prevent blindness for retinal detachment glaucoma. So someone studies now with myopia management and how we manage the kids so their future looks better. Their future is better to prevent blindness. You know? So that means a lot to give back to the children of Jamaica to make sure they have a better future, not only with eyewear, but with vision.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I want them to dream big, to think big, to see a little girl that came from their island and she's doing something, and they can do it too. To give them bigger dreams and vision and have them dream bigger for themselves and desire and want something bigger for themselves.
Heather Patrick:So through this process, I have two things, right? Gratitude, I think is just, again, the older we get, I think we see it differently. And so talk a little bit about how that feeling gratitude that has shaped you. But also, is there a family or people through this process that you have given back that really shaped you, really touched you?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yes, I do remember specifically, it was a 15 year old or 16 year old teenager who had glaucoma. And his vision was basically deteriorating, had the vision of my dad when he was at the end stage. And so gratitude is we didn't wake up. We sometimes we have a choice of seeing, but sometimes we don't have a choice. So we have to be grateful for these beautiful gifts, the gift of eyes, the gift of vision, where we can see.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And not take it for granted, not because I am seeing, that's just normal, but some children don't even have the gift of vision inside at a young age. So gratitude is very important to be grateful for what we have and to nurture, to take care of these beautiful gifts of our eyes, this beautiful gift of vision, so we preserve it. Yes, we guided this young man and his family to the right resources that can help him for the future to navigate, to not limit him, but to have even a very successful life, even with vision loss, right?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Because sometimes these people do way beyond above what we with vision do. So gratitude is important that whatever we have, the gift of life, the gift of vision, whatever functions that we have right now, that we are gifted with that. And we should be so grateful for that.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. So talk about your book. Yeah. So you were a nurse, a doctor, entrepreneur, and then an author, and on social media. A So little bit of a magician, I would say.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I do sleep. Somebody will say, oh, do you sleep? I do sleep. And, you know, I like to sleep a lot too. But no, the book, the book is so fun.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So as I tell the story, the book was a perfect place to document this creative moment, creativity, and to inspire children, not only girls, but right? When a girl with a big vision, many will say, Oh, is it only for girls? No, it's Boris and men. It's for any individual that want that childhood dream to come alive, that it is possible. And sometimes I read it and I tear up because it just brings back so many emotions and I'm so grateful for that.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. So you're raising two sons, right? So how does that, being a mom, how does it change your perspective on leadership?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:On leadership? It has changed my perspective hugely. So as a mom, first of all, what I remember, every time you say motherhood, I remember couple moments. One specifically is giving birth. The world stops.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yeah. Does, actually.
Heather Patrick:You're right.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:It does. It stops. You're in the hospital. Life is, you know, like, it it stops. Another is just patience and allowing things to grow.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And how that has nurtured my ability as an entrepreneur, I'm very task driven. So I have grown into somebody who is a little bit slower, who can let things rest in a season and not have to do, do, do, do, do, do so much. Then the patience to see that through. So, motherhood has taught me just that. Sometimes you just have to shut it down to stop, and then patiently wait to see it through.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:So, I'm in that season right now where I'm patiently waiting to see it through.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, is a beautiful way to put it. There's a great book called Present Over Perfect. And she talks about, we do have this need for perfection and it's really about progress and being present in your life. And one of the things she talks about is that when we say yes to things, we are also saying no to things, right? We may not say the word no, but when we give our yes to something or someone, someone else is getting the no.
Heather Patrick:And to be very clear and intentional about your yeses and to make sure you understand the no's you're giving away. And I read that book about eight years ago now. And that really, it made me think about things so differently, right? Because we do, we rush to say yes, we rush to get things done. We want it done on our timeframe, right?
Heather Patrick:Our timetable, we want to see it come alive. And I love what you said. It really is the patience to let it grow And to sometimes just shut it down. So that's really good. That's beautiful.
Heather Patrick:All right. So you're doing all these great things. You have a great voice. You are educating people, helping people, making a difference. So let's just have some fun things about you.
Heather Patrick:And you've been all over the world too, right? So I've seen some of the cool places you've gone. What's the best place you've traveled to? Oh,
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:I love I love I went my fortieth, I went to Australia. I love it. First of all, the beaches, the kids were outside playing after school. Very it actually had the lowest rate of myopia because of the lifestyle that they had. Yeah.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Because they're always outdoors. They're always doing some outdoor activities and families, so family oriented. And I just loved it, it was a beautiful place. Sydney, went to Sydney City and another beach, I forgot the name, but such a Bombay beach and just beautiful. And just the people there and the families, the way that they operated with indulging in the outdoor activities, I love that a lot.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what's something people are surprised to learn about you?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Well, like I said, I'm an introvert. Many people are like, Oh, you know what? She is a social butterfly. I am. I love people.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:And then when, you know, at home, I just love I love a lot of peace. And for my family, they just have to realize that's how I get fueled, how I regain my energy. And so I like, Close the door, shut the door, we're good. So that's me. You're like, you know, sometimes if I'm out, I'm out and about, but I'm truly a very peaceful person just liking my privacy and just my inner well peace and just doing things that walk in, waking up a little bit later, having some coffee, opening the windows, the simple things, and just a very private and simple person.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Yeah.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. Okay. Finish this sentence. Vision means?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Faith. Just like you said, vision is faith. Vision is faith. Yes.
Heather Patrick:Oh, God. All right. So if our audience remembers nothing else about today, what's the one thing that you want them to make sure that they take away?
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:First of all, our vision is a gift. We should never take it for granted. But if I'm talking to optometrists, what would I say? I would say go for it. Build your dream, build your desire, create your vision for your business, for your life.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:A lot of times where they're building a business, well, build a good life. Build a life that you desire. The business may come and go, but your life remains with you forever.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, that is really, really good. So Kerri-Ann, thank you so much for being on the podcast today and just for you, just for being you and for being such a great doctor and for telling the story on social media, really bringing to life vision. I think in the space, sometimes it really is hard to get people excited about taking care of their eyes, but you do it beautifully. So thank you for being a great voice for the industry.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Thanks for having me, Heather. Thank you for all that you do with Prevent Blindness. Continue the good work and always good to be a part of the organization.
Heather Patrick:Thank you. And on that note, we always invite our listeners to be a part of the PBT family. We are always looking for people to join events, become screeners, eye health ambassadors. We are always open to having a conversation and helping you in any way we can. And of course, you can always donate.
Heather Patrick:And we always end with, tell us what your vision is. Thanks and have a great day.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Coombs:Bye.
