Keeping the Focus
Island Family Eyecare: Building a Legacy Through Mentorship
By Sophia Soltes
Photos by Annie Graebner
In the 35 years since it opened, Island Family Eyecare has transformed the visual health of countless island residents by putting personal connections at the heart of its work, said Dr. David Kirscher, the practice’s founder. He put the clinic’s commitment to maintaining strong community relationships simply: “The mission has always been to take the best possible care, as well as to offer the best products for every patient who walks into the clinic.”
Kirscher has maintained this drive from the start, working six days a week during his first decade in business to grow the practice. “I started as an employee of The Visual Connection toward the end of 1988,” he said. “I bought the Winslow Green location and became sole practitioner on April 1, 1991, changing the name to Island Family Eyecare.”
Kirscher didn’t remain a sole practitioner for long, though. As the clinic grew, it also became committed to a different form of connection: mentorship.
“I met Scott when he was a junior at Bainbridge High School,” Kirscher recalled of Dr. Scott Brase, who has worked at Island Family Eyecare since the early 2000s, after being mentored by Kirscher and other staff members. “He came in a lot during summers in high school and undergrad, and I guess he liked what he saw. I hired him as an associate after graduation.”
Brase was the first to train and return to Island Family Eyecare after receiving Kirscher’s guidance, but he wasn’t the last. Years later, their combined efforts brought another doctor into the practice.
“Scott and I met Gavin (Hollyer) when he was 9 years old,” said Kirscher. “He was a patient at Island Family Eyecare.” Dr. Hollyer, Island Family Eyecare’s newest optometrist, recently returned to the clinic as a colleague, shaped by the same connection and community-centered guidance.
Hollyer has been at Island Family Eyecare for almost two years but said, “it feels like it has gone quickly.” When, like Brase, he began to observe at Island Family Eyecare in high school, Hollyer hoped to learn more about possible career paths.
“My family had been patients there for a while,” he said, “so I reached out and they were more than happy to have me come in and do some job shadowing.”
After earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, his doctorate at Western University of Health Sciences in Los Angeles, and completing his clinical rotations at various locations around the country, Hollyer felt a pull to return to Bainbridge.
“I had been thinking about coming back since I started grad school in Los Angeles,” said Hollyer.
The idea of an “island family” drives Hollyer’s work at Island Family Eyecare, just as it shaped Kirscher and Brase’s philosophy. “All of us are local,” Hollyer said, “so we really focus on maintaining that local connection through getting to know everyone’s family while also providing quality care.”
Reflecting on his experience, Hollyer credits the doctors who guided him. “Both Dr. Kirscher and Dr. Brase are really great educators, and they’ve always been incredibly supportive of my interest,” he said. “I think that the local mentorship aspect has always been important to the practice.”
With the new support in place, Kirscher is preparing for retirement: “This has been a good ride, but 40 years is enough.”
However, Hollyer is confident that his predecessor’s legacy will live on. “There’s lots of history here,” he said. “A virtue of living and practicing here is that you have the privilege of seeing families, seeing people return to the island, and eventually seeing their children. It’s one of the most fulfilling parts of the job.”
Although Hollyer is new to the practice, he also hopes to pass the torch one day. “I’ve actually already had a student reach out to me. We always do our best to accommodate people who are eager to learn, and encourage young folks to reach out to the office with any questions that they may have.”
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