Girl Scouts See the Future with Dr. Jamie Alexander
At Cornea Associates of Texas, we’re proud to be actively involved in our community. Recently, our very own Dr. Jamie Alexander had the opportunity to engage with the Ambassador Girl Scout Troop 7878 from Flower Mound. Check out how she shared her expertise and passion with these future leaders!
This blog post is inspired by a feature article written by Julie Riekse for Girl Scout leaders. We appreciate the insightful coverage and are grateful for their permission to reference this work.
If Dr. Jamie Alexander sees neighbors mowing lawns without protective eyewear, she’ll pull over her car and give them the equipment free of charge. And don’t let her catch you swimming in a lake wearing contact lenses—that’s asking for an infection, or sleeping in them.
“Do you wear your underpants more than once?” the ophthalmologist asked Girl Scout Troop 7878 Sunday afternoon. She then showed us petri dishes growing globs of brown nastiness cultured from human eyeballs.“Take a sniff,” she said as she creaked open plastic lids and buried her nose. “These smell like corn chips.”
Dr. Alexander saved Charlotte’s vision last fall when our family showed up at Cornea Associates. (The saga included a threat of blindness, daily visits with the ophthalmologist, and burning eye drops that cost thousands of dollars.)
Charlotte and I returned last weekend with the Girl Scouts to query Dr. Alexander about her job; she was happy to geek out over science with us. According to the doctor, professional props include but are not limited to: wearing scrubs to work, doing surgery, completing surgeries with high rates of satisfied customers, and an unending supply of patients, as “everyone comes to an eye doctor eventually.”
Moreover, she’s a partner in her practice, which offers autonomy. Finally, Dr. Alexander said that she enjoys her job “because I get to help people with a huge part of their lives without dealing with really sad things, like death and dying”—a reality for many of her peers.
The downside? Upwards of 13 years of schooling. But for girls who thrive in the academic world, that’s 16 years well spent.