One of the owners of Winnfield’s new Family Eye Clinic, Dr. Pete Wardell, was the guest speaker for the Winnfield Rotary Club’s meeting on August 3, 2022, at the invitation of Rotarian of the week, Joe Evans. According to Joe, who introduced Dr. Wardell, their acquaintance began many years ago when they both resided in Natchitoches and joined the same civic organization.
Dr. Wardell was raised in DeSoto Parish and graduated from Stanley High School. Stanley is about five miles from Logansport and about 15 miles from Mansfield. Calvin High School was one of Stanley’s baseball opponents, and Dr. Wardell was on the baseball team, so he became acquainted with a few Winn Parish residents. He went on to play baseball for Northwestern State University during his undergraduate studies, from which he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biology. After attending the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN, he returned to Louisiana and made Natchitoches his home.
In the early years of his practice, Dr. Wardell worked for Walmart Vision Center, which had him coming to Walmart in Winnfield two days a week. He later was able to go into practice with Dr. Randall Keator, and they had Family Eye Care offices in Natchitoches, Many and Coushatta. The Family Eye Care Center now has four O.D.s to cover all the offices. When Dr. Jimmy Walker retired from his ophthalmology practice here in Winnfield, Dr. Wardell and Dr. Keator opened their Family Eye Care Center here in Winnfield.
The office is located at 207 E. North Street, in the block behind the Masonic Lodge. The office is open five days a week. A doctor is in the office in Winnfield three days a week. Emergency services are available 24 hours a day through the answering service, but the patient would have to travel to Natchitoches. The staff in the Winnfield office includes nurses and technicians who have worked for Dr. Walker and Walmart Optical.
The practice provides primary eye care for the family, including comprehensive eye examinations for vision, common eye diseases, and overall health of the eyes, providing corrective lenses, treatment of common disorders such as dry eye, as well as screening and monitoring for diseases and disorders of the eye such as glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration. However, Family Eye Care does not perform surgical services such as cataract removal or Lasik for vision correction.
Dr. Wardell is enthused about having a clinic here in Winnfield and says they want to be involved and invested in our community.
After Dr. Wardell finished answering questions from his audience and closing announcements were made by Rotary president Mary Lou Blackley, the meeting was adjourned with the Rotary motto, “Service above self!”
