March 17, 2021 marks the anniversary of the day Berkeley Optometry went into full lockdown mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes were online, the clinic moved to emergency care only, and all non-clinical staff except for essential workers began working from home. The last year has challenged all of us in ways we could never have imagined. The members of Berkeley Optometry’s community demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness, resilience and kindness. Our faculty and students have shown incredible flexibility and enthusiasm for delivering and receiving remote learning. Equally gratifying has been our clinical faculty, students, and staff response to the crisis. We continued to provide eye care for our community – an arrangement that not only served our own patients and clinical learners, but also played a role in the school’s mission to help reduce hospital emergency room visits relating to eye care during the COVID-19 crisis. The slideshow below demonstrates, in pictures, the resolve shown by our community throughout this crisis, and proves that together we will carry on and find ways to serve our students, our patients, and our alumni.
