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August 25, 2000/24 Av 5760, Vol. 52, No.50
ICON improves Vipers' vision
BETH OLSON
Editorial Assistant
A promotional event at a recent Valley Vipers game at Scottsdale Stadium, "Better Sight Than the Umpire Night," marked the beginning of a partnership between ICON Laser Eye Centers and the Vipers, a Western Baseball League team. The partnership allows ICON to provide vision-care services for the Vipers players, staff and senior officers, with Dr. Jay Schwartz acting as the official team eye physician.
Schwartz, 33, worked as an opthalmologist in a private practice in Mesa with another doctor until 1999, when he joined ICON.
ICON is a network of laser vision correction centers, located in North America and Europe.
ICON doctors perform the LASIK procedure, which can be used to correct "most people's vision, like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and nearsightedness with astigma- tism," says Schwartz.
The procedure, says Schwartz, involves creating a flap in the eye, lifting the flap and then "sculpting" the cornea with the laser. "Then we put the flap back down and within four hours, it heals and that's why people see so well, so fast," says Schwartz. The cost of the procedure is $750 per eye.
Schwartz began performing the LASIK procedure in Oct. 1997. He currently trains other doctors in the procedure.
Schwartz graduated from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and then completed an opthamology residency at Midwestern University in Chicago in 1997.
He and his wife of one year, Brenda, are members of Temple Solel in Paradise Valley. Their contributions to the Jewish community include "supporting the development of the Jewish Community (Campus) in Scottsdale."
The "Better Sight Night" promotion, which launched the partnership of ICON and the Vipers, included an award of "a free LASIK eye surgery to a lucky Vipers fan," according to Tim Martin, director of operations for the Vipers.
The Vipers are in the midst of their inaugural season, which runs May through September, in Scottsdale. The 90-game season is played by eight teams, four located in California, one in Utah, one in Washington and two in Arizona (Scottsdale and Yuma).
Martin says that many of the players in the league are college players who were not drafted. Some players are former major or minor-leaguers who are not currently under contract.
The Vipers are owned by New Yorker Jim Goldsmith and they have no affiliation with any major-league team. This allows the Vipers to "have ICON be our exclusive eye-care provider without answering to another corporate sponsor or to a major-league team," says Martin.
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