With Annedrea Morreale

After a year of extremely arduous work, in November of 2022, I finally opened my own optometric practice: Franklin Vision Care. With my background in medical practice, this was a crash course in business management. My practice is a traditional “cold start” built from a “shell.” Rather than purchasing an established practice with an existing patient base, I had to build out my own office and start my optometric practice from scratch while also working full-time for another practice. This required careful planning and management, from overseeing construction to obtaining medical insurance credentials, implementing electronic health records, purchasing equipment, selecting optical products and recruiting an exceptional team. It was an all-consuming process, consuming my days and nights for months.

 

Franklin Vision Care was awarded Downtown Franklin Association’s Healthcare Office of the Year 2022, after only months in business. Without my family, friends, church, community, mentors and consultants, this would not have been accomplished. 

 

Franklin is where my family calls home. I genuinely care about the health and visual needs of my patients and community. When opening my practice, I chose a location less than two miles from my house because my patients are like my family. If they need me, I am there for them. I also travel to local nursing homes and provide eyecare to those that are home-bound. I have been working as a contracted travel optometrist with SightRite since August 2022 to provide eyecare to the senior community.

 

My recent inclusion in Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is an honor that I cherish. My main goal is to increase my knowledge and raise awareness about cystic fibrosis and the foundation. Additionally, I want to develop connections with other young professionals who are making a difference in our community. As Nashville's top young professionals, we have a crucial role to play in our city. Working together, we can create a positive impact and lift up the entire community. I believe this experience will help us grow as leaders and benefit Nashville as a whole. I am excited to collaborate with like-minded professionals and emerge from this opportunity as a better version of myself.

 

Despite all the recent exciting events, I want to emphasize that my greatest accomplishment is my daughter, Evelyn. She is the light of my life, especially after the life-threatening birth experience due to HELLP Syndrome and a seventeen-day NICU stay that we went through. We are incredibly grateful to be healthy and alive. This experience gave me a new perspective and helped me discover my purpose. I realized that serving my community is my true calling, and being an optometrist in my community is a true gift.