Eye clinic expansion signals Gulf Coast economic upturn

March 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Any way you look at it, it’s good economic news for the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  A major eye care practice is expanding to meet increased business.
   Eye Associates of the South, which has long-time clinics in Biloxi and Gulfport, just opened a third clinic in Ocean Springs.  Moreover, this is the medical group’s second expansion since its main clinic was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.
   Dr. Rainna Bahadur, a partner in the group of four ophthalmologists and two optometrists, said the doctors have confidence in the coast.
   “By opening the Ocean Springs clinic, we are continuing to show our commitment to the people here and, in a small way, are part of rebuilding and fortifying the Gulf Coast for the future,” she said.
   The group’s other partner, Dr. Joel Knight, founded the practice in 1986.  He pointed out that they’ve built Eye Associates of the South on a philosophy of “affordable excellence” for patients.  It’s the only eye group on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in which every M.D. is both board certified and fellowship trained, he said.
   The group’s former main clinic on Lameuse Street in Biloxi was gutted by Katrina, as was Bahadur’s house.  Knight’s house was totally washed away.
   “Truly,” Bahadur added, “at no point in time – not even right after Katrina – did we think about leaving the coast.  The camaraderie and resilience the locals show is so impressive and inspiring.  It truly showed me the inner quality of so many of the people here,” the Greenwood native said.  Thus, the U.S. economic downturn of recent years was not daunting to the doctors, either, she said.
   Both Bahadur and Knight earned their medical degrees (MDs) at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson.  Bahadur specializes in cornea/external disease and refractive surgery, including LASIK and cataract surgery.  Knight is a retina/macula specialist, general ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon.
   The other two ophthalmologists in their group, Dr. Mark Brown and Dr. Sprague Eustis, specialize in eye plastics and pediatric ophthalmology, respectively.  Dr. Kimberly Benigno and Dr. Joe Mitchell, both doctors of optometry (ODs), specialize in comprehensive eye exams for eyeglasses and contact lens, including hard-to-fit cases.
   “I think it’s safe to say, we’re here to stay,” Bahadur concluded.  “We don’t give up.  In fact, we ran clinic right after Katrina, while I commuted back and forth from Jackson.”
   To accommodate patients, when their Lameuse Street clinic in downtown Biloxi was devastated in the 2005 hurricane, Eye Associates of the South quickly expanded their other Biloxi clinic in the Cedar Lake Medical Plaza, just south of I-10.  Their Gulfport clinic on 15277 Creosote Road also survived Katrina.
   The new clinic is at 6616 Washington Ave., Suite A, in Ocean Springs.  For more information or appointments, go to Eye Associates of the South’s website at www.2020view.com, or call (228) 872-4444.

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Cutline: Eye Associates of the South partners, (from left) Dr. Joel Knight and Dr. Rainna Bahadur, recently opened a new clinic at 6616 Washington Ave., Suite A, in Ocean Springs. It is the ophthalmology group's third clinic on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.