Dr. Nancy Hemmingson said there have been a lot of changes in the field of optometry over her 42-year career. New technologies and treatments have helped people maintain their vision, she said.

MARSHALL — As an optometrist in the Marshall area, Dr. Nancy Hemmingson has gotten to know and help a lot of people with their vision over the years. But helping people is simply what the job is about, Hemmingson said.

“You just know that’s what you do, and that’s what you’re supposed to be doing,” she said.

This week, Hemmingson will be retiring after a 42-year career with Avera Marshall Southwest Ophthalmology. Hemmingson said today will be her last day at work.

“I’ve been saying goodbye to people all this week,” she said. “I’ve been getting quite a few hugs this week.”

Hemmingson spoke with the Independent this week, and looked back on her years of work. She said becoming an optometrist had always seemed like an interesting career path.

“I think a lot of it was just interest when, you know, you go to the eye doctor yourself,” she said. “It’s just interesting to see all the things, the gadgets and the instruments they had, and the way they could make you see better with the lenses.”

Hemmingson is originally from northwest Iowa, and came to Marshall in 1982 after graduating from Pacific University College of Optometry in Forest Grove, Oregon.

“I had always kind of planned to try and come back to this area,” Hemmingson said. After graduating, she looked at different job openings before she found an opportunity in Marshall.

“I ended up talking with a rep from a company, and he knew that Dr. (Ted) Fritsche was looking for an optometrist to join his practice,” Hemmingson said. “So I came up here and I spoke with them, and decided to come to Marshall. And I never left.”

In 2008, Fritsche sold his practice, Southwest Ophthalmology and Southwest Opticians, to Avera Marshall. After Fritsche retired in 2012, Hemmingson stayed with Avera Marshall Southwest Ophthalmology.

A lot has changed for eye care in the Marshall area in the past 40 years, Hemmingson said. There have been big advances in the fields of optometry and ophthalmology, including technologies that help doctors better diagnose and treat different eye conditions.

“There has been a lot of advancement in treatments of different eye diseases, that make it so that people can just live better lives, and continue to see much better,” Hemmingson said. “Where they used to be ‘Well, you’ve got this eye disease and there’s nothing you can do about it,’ now it’s ‘Well, you have this eye disease, so let’s send you to the specialist that can help you see better and maintain good vision.’ You can still drive, and you can still read, and things like that.”

Some of the big advances have come in treatments for conditions like macular degeneration and glaucoma. There have also been advancements in surgeries for cataracts and to treat holes in the retina of the eye, she said. “Those are probably the big ones that kind of stand out for me.”

As an optometrist, Hemmingson would be able to diagnose patients and refer them for treatment. “And then a lot of times we would continue to follow up afterwards, too,” she said.

Hemmingson has seen the difference that getting care has made for patients. Not being able to see well can limit people’s freedom and independence, she said.

“I’ve had some very, very grateful people over the years too, where they’ve gotten help when they weren’t expecting that maybe we would find something, or be able to help them as much as we could,” Hemmingson said.

Hemmingson said she’s also seen changes as Southwest Ophthalmology grew over the years.

“It started out with just a real small (practice),” she said. “But we’ve really just kind of grown now, and expanded into outreach and different things. Besides Marshall, I’ve been seeing patients over in our Tracy clinic. I really enjoyed working in the two different areas.”

“It’s also been just really nice, as it has expanded, to have other optometrists in the practice you can bounce things off of,” she said. “You can talk about different approaches to different things.”

Hemmingson said the hard part about retiring would not seeing the coworkers and the patients she’s gotten to know well over the years.

“It’s kind of sad, in a way, to think that you’re just not going to be seeing them as much,” she said. “But it’s one of those things where it’s time.”

Hemmingson said she was looking forward to gardening and spending time with family. “I’ve got things to do, and things planned,” she said.