“This is my vision of what I feel complete care is. It’s not just about the eyes. It’s about total body health. And what we really do is we want to bring beauty to you to your life. And this is what it’s about.” – Dr. Sandra Yeh, Prairie Eye N’ Lasik Center
To see the world is a precious gift that not all have, and not all have for all of their lives either. The gift of sight is one which can wear down over time – under the strains and externalities of life itself – and with the passing of time.
Lens making and the science of optics are old human endeavors, as people have attempted to see better, farther, and more precise for centuries.
Yet the oldest pair of glasses or “spectacles,” exist from 13th century Italy; many and most, however, credit modern-day Spain with creating the first pair of proto-spectacles. Glasses with frames more similar to what exists today are only about 500 years old.
Today, in our modern world, there are solutions to such problems, of which were previously considered beyond humanity’s reach – just as glasses, monocles, and lenses once seemed like groundbreaking innovations themselves.
At Prairie Eye N’ Lasik Center, the importance of vision is intimately understood by the staff, doctors, and entire administration. But it is not only your eyes, your sight, and the health of those related particulars that they are concerned and prepared to help with.
HSHS St. John’s has a surgery center in the facility for any serious work that needs to be done, and the medical spa – opened pre-COVID, but only just pre-COVID – offers massages, cool sculpting, and all sorts of other personal, cosmetic and physical treatments and innovations
Not only does it offer those amenities and services, but the facility is filled with bits of beauty that you likely will find nowhere else across Springfield. Whether it be Grecian busts, sculptures, paintings – or even a fossil or two – the Prairie Eye N’ Lasik Center is something to see, experience, benefit from, and ultimately, enjoy.
When WMAY had the wonderful opportunity to head down to 2020 W Isles Avenue in the Westwood Forum neighborhood of Springfield just the other day, we were taken aback by the size, layout, and decor of the establishment.
We took great pleasure in speaking with both the founder of the Prairie Eye N’ Lasik Center – the esteemed Dr. Sandra Yeh – as well as Dr. Alex Willis, an ophthalmologist and surgeon of the establishment whose passion for helping people to look how they feel simply bursts forth as one gets to know him better; on the eve of the grand re-opening event of Prairie Eye N’ Lasik Center, it seemed like the absolute perfect opportunity to get to know the doctors and the entire institution to a greater degree too.
Sitting in a brilliantly decorated, circular space with white leather seating, art all around us, and a crystal lighting fixture above us, it is clear to us that comfort and luxury were paramount in the design and creation of room and greater building we are sitting in.
Dr. Yeh is finishing up a meeting as we arrive, and so Dr. Alex Willis is spending some time with us first. As Dr. Willis walks in and sits down, he smiles as he sees us taking in the space that he passes through and around each and every day.
“…I mean, we have created an ambiance in this facility, where the sights, the sounds, everything is just built for comfort, the colors on the floor, the colors on the wall, everything is just designed to put everyone at ease and our goal is to create just the absolute calmest, most warming experience; we literally have a kitchen, about 30-40 feet from here, so that we can make warm, fresh cookies for people during peak times; the sights, sounds, smells – everything is situated just to provide folks the best experience possible while they’re here.”
He discusses how the facility is – literally – a reflection of Dr. Yeh and is the representation that she first conceived over three decades ago; furthermore, he discusses the wonders of the spa that those around Springfield and the surrounding areas may not be intimately familiar with yet.
“…It all goes back to the sole – almost sole – designer, Dr. Yeh. When she describes this place, it is like an elegant drawing that she’s had in her mind’s eye since, you know, the 1980s and 90s. She has always wanted a place like this; this is her dream for Prairie Vision Center and Medical Spa.
…In most people’s minds, this [May 3] is the opening, because they hardly remember this portion of the facility being open; it was just a blip prior to COVID-19-related shutdowns. And so this facility is one of those places where they [Dr. Yeh and the other staff over the years] had a whole goal – a whole dream – of just being able to walk in the door and get any spa service that you want done, done.
We have a room completely dedicated for facials, one for massage therapy, one for Cool Sculpting, and those rooms were designed just for those entities.
We have exam rooms for all folks cosmetic needs. If you want lids lifted, tightened, rejuvenated, we do those in there and then we have procedure rooms completely dedicated to Botox and fillers and those sorts of things. All of those are completely different sections of our spa. And on top of that, we are able to provide top of the line services in our surgical suite where we can do cosmetic procedures – almost any cosmetic procedure that you can think of we can do just in that facility alone.”
As he educated us on what the spa can do for folks across the community, the conversation turned towards how people feel about themselves, as well as the grand re-opening on Wednesday, May 3.
“…the grand reopening with all the product lines and everything that gets booted May 3, and so we’re going to have that launch ready to go.
There will be hors d’oeuvres, we’re gonna have some pricing that won’t ever happen or be witnessed again – some introductory pricing on all of our products. And so that we’re very excited for thatm we’ll have giveaways as well, and then we’re actually bringing in a lot of the reps so that they will be here to answer any questions that anybody has about some of their products.
We’re gonna have great energy. There’s gonna be some music as well – the entire thing is going to be truly awesome.”
And, as Dr. Willis continued to give us the lowdown, Dr. Yeh finally got out of her meeting to join us. Her passion for eyes, for vision, and for the overall health and well-being of people, exudes from her being – from her eyes and through the words she speaks; her history – both personal and professional – is a fascinating one, and it’s one that is intrinsically intertwined with the vision center and medical spa itself.
“So I was here in 1990. I actually came and joined a solo ophthalmologist, Dr. Michael Walsh, who had been in practice since 1965. And I was in a office in the central building downtown. When he retired after seven years, I decided I didn’t want to be alone; I wanted to bring on a team.
And what I envisioned was an office where we had different specialties to serve all different areas of the eyes. So originally, I actually looked at the property across the street from me, because I thought someday, if I worked very hard, I would be in a 6000 square foot office, because originally, I started in about an 1800 square foot office.
So that was my huge dream, and I was about to sign on the dotted line, when I asked the realtor, ‘what’s the address?’ And she said, ‘2035 Isles Avenue,’ and I said ‘oh, we’re in the ophthalmology business – we don’t want 2035, we want 2020; and she said, ‘Oh, well that’s the property across the street.’
And I looked across the street, and there was this huge plot of land that stretch all the way from Isles, all the way to Montvale or the other side and I said, ‘Oh, I couldn’t possibly ever afford this huge amount of land.’ And she told me, ‘Well, that’s not one lot. Those are multiple lots. And this one up front, just happens to be for sale, and the address is 2020 Isles Avenue.’
And I said ‘oh what an auspicious name.’ So we decided to buy that first piece of land. And five years later, we ran out of room, so we expanded; five years after that, we ran out of room – we expanded – and then eventually, we ended up buying almost every piece of the land.
So this whole building is actually a complex, and it includes cataract. refractive surgery, LASIK surgery, optometry glasses, contact lenses, but also includes cornea glaucoma.
This area – where you’re sitting now – is our flagship, the latest edition. This is the fifth edition – the Retina Center and the Medical Spa. We actually have a surgery center on site that’s owned by St. John’s Hospital. We provide eye surgery here as well.
This facility is the complete package. This is where you can come and – as our motto goes – see beautiful, and be beautiful. That’s what we’d always like to have here.”
When asked about her responsibility to the community she has called home for over three decades, Dr. Yeh happily explained her various intellectual and practical positions.
“Sight is 70% of our world. It is so vital – and especially to the elderly that we take care of and the people in the rural communities.
Either I can travel there and see 60 patients or 60 people have to spend gas and time to travel to us. If we save the sight of one person in Hillsborough, it is worth it for us.
Furthermore, we want to reach out to the people out there; let me tell you, if you have talent, if you have commitment, and you’re a good person at heart, we want you here with us. We’re here to hire people with good hearts; that’s additionally what we’re here for.”
As we were wrapping up our time with Dr. Yeh and Dr. Willis, the former noted one further foundational thought, that was simply too important to pass over or neglect to mention.
“Love is infinite. The more you give, the more there is to get. It is – in fact – a renewable resource. And so we have this renewable resource that we have to give and pass on to yet another generation; so many of our doctors are very young, you see.
We have outstanding optometrists, outstanding surgeon in and of all fields; we’re very diverse as well. We come from all areas of the globe, and we’re here to bring the best to these incredibly deserving communities that we serve.”
Our thanks to Dr. Sandra Yeh, Dr. Alex Willis, and the entire Prairie Eye N’ Lasik Center staff for all of their time and dedication.
