I’m Andy Langston, one of the optometrists at The Eye Center. We’re reaching out to friends and followers to tell you a little about ourselves and our clinic. I’m very happy to be a part of our Team here.
I’m a native Arkansan from Salem, Arkansas. There are actually three communities in Arkansas named Salem. I’m from the one in north-central Arkansas – the county seat of Fulton County. It was a great place to grow up and since there was almost no “city” type of entertainment, almost everyone had a deep love of outdoor activity. From swimming to fishing to motorcycle riding to mountain climbing there’s pretty much no outdoor sport that I don’t find enjoyable and all of us are blessed by the abundance of outdoor beauty here in Northwest Arkansas.
My wife is Debby. She is a Fayetteville native. We have two great grown kids, Tiffany and Brandon, and a beautiful (no bias here) granddaughter, Olivia. All live in Northwest Arkansas. It’s tough to not be a pest and not spend all of our time with our beautiful Olivia. Her Mom and Dad do a great job of all the tough work of parenting and when Gi-Gi and Pa-Pa show up Olivia thinks it’s all fun. Two years ago when Olivia was born, there were actually six babies born to The Eye Center staff members. We’ve always been family-oriented and with a clinic full of proud parents and grandparents the culture of our clinic definitely took a shift in that direction.
My favorite activities outside of work include camping on Beaver Lake, White River trout fishing, paddling the Buffalo and Kings Rivers, and motorcycling – my tendency to ride faster than I should is a standing joke among my colleagues. Vacations are usually spent on gulf coast beaches, beautiful Arizona and New Mexico deserts, or the mountains of western Colorado. Prior to reaching the half-century mark in life, the Colorado mountains were the preferred vacation and I’ve been fortunate to climb about half of the state’s 14,000-foot peaks.
Debby and I are also involved in our community through support of Eureka Christian Health Outreach (ECHO), area food banks, and area animal shelters. ECHO is a medical, dental, and optometric clinic funded through donations and through funds raised in an affiliated thrift store. Health care is provided through a network of volunteer providers and Dr. Risch graciously carries on The Eye Center’s tradition of providing surgical services to patients who would otherwise be unable to provide for their own care. We support Good Shepherd Animal Shelter and the Washington County Animal Shelter.
Commonly, we give gift certificates for animal adoption. Some of the recipients adopt and some do not but even if recipients choose not to adopt, the proceeds remain with the shelter. It was through this type of donation that we were given a gift certificate to adopt and our shelter dog, JedEye. He loves to travel with us, chase squirrels, run like crazy for no apparent reason, and to play mind games with his feline sister Biscuit, also a rescue.
It’s been a pleasure to be part of The Eye Center team for the past fourteen years. Drs Tammy Morris, Jonathan Shaver, and Bradley Taylor are the best of optometric colleagues. We do most of the non-surgical eye care and routine eye exams. Drs Patrick Risch, Craig Brown, Kellye Smith, and Kevin Toller are our ophthalmology colleagues and they couldn’t be a better team to work with on eye problems requiring surgery or complex medical management.
It’s always come easy to everyone at The Eye Center to treat all who work here and those who come to us for eye care with kindness and respect. That’s been the hallmark of the clinic for the past thirty years. We truly appreciate all of our patients, and, if you’re reading this and you’re not one of our patients, come on in sometime when you need our care. We’re happy to help.
