Pierce Program to Train Optometrist’s Aides

An Optics Education program is the first to be offered in Pierce College’s new Center for Innovative Studies curriculum, designed to step up efforts to ready students for the job market, college officials announced Friday.

“That is what Pierce has not done in the past,” said college President E. Bing Inocencio. “We have an excellent transfer program. . . . But we are not doing as well in the employment readiness area.”

The program to train optometrist’s assistants will begin Oct. 28 with about 28 students. It is a one-year certificate training program that will teach students to measure the parameters of a prescription as well as how to fit, align, adjust and repair different kinds of glasses.

Graduates could use the certificate to prove their training in the field to a prospective employer, but the program also will help them prepare for the American Board of Opticianry exam.

“We won’t guarantee that they’ll pass the test,” said Chester Katz, an optometrist and the program’s primary instructor. “But they’ll go into it with confidence.”

Inocencio said that within two years the program expects to add an optical clinic for elderly and low-income clients in which students could fit people with glasses as part of their lab work.

With the creation of the program, Pierce will become the first public institution to offer training as an optometrist’s assistant. Most private programs charge from $4,000 to $6,000 for the training. Students at Pierce will pay $1,000 for the courses, including books and laboratory fees, officials said.

Inocencio said an additional 15 job-training programs are in the planning stages, all to be fully subsidized by business advisory committees composed of professionals and requiring no state or Los Angeles Community College District funds.