By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
These days you won’t find Sarah Nigh-Bruner sitting down for long before she’s up tackling her next project. Not only is she dealing with her children switching schools but she is coaching the swim team at the Bucyrus YMCA—and to top it all off, Nigh-Bruner will officially open the doors to her eye practice on Monday.
The finishing touches are being put on the former Peoples Savings and Loan building at the corner of Rensselaer and Walnut Streets. The building that Nigh-Bruner described as “absolutely gorgeous” features a mixture of the old and the new. Nigh-Bruner chose to keep some of the classical aspects of the former bank in place and combined it with an eye practice that she hopes patients will see as a place that they can be treated as family.
“I want this to be a place where you can be a part of the family,” explained Nigh-Bruner as she stood in one of her exam rooms. She is beginning her own practice with the mindset that all patients will be treated as if they were one of her family members. Simply put, she hopes people come in and feel welcome.
“It’s just one whirlwind after another. It’s exciting,” Nigh-Bruner said.
Nigh-Bruner will be a part of the Ohio Eye Associates after leaving Club View Vision Center.
Nigh-Bruner doesn’t discount her past experiences in any way, crediting them with all the knowledge she currently has to be able to run her own business. In fact, she said her experience with dealing with more medical situations was better than going through a residency.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Nigh-Bruner said with a big smile. She admitted that sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night, alternately nervous, anxious and excited. She added that she has that niggling fear of what if the practice doesn’t take off but, from her boundless energy and joy, one would probably not guess at her small doubts.
In fact, Nigh-Bruner laughingly said she hopes that her venture will be reminiscent of the idea from the movie Field of Dreams: if she builds it, hopefully, they will come.
Nigh-Bruner knows she has a prime location with her building, which boasts its own parking lot. She has feelings of nostalgia when she walks through the former bank’s doors, a place where her family banked when she was growing up. Maybe that nostalgia will even crossover to her clients.
Nigh-Bruner’s practice will officially open at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 9. The eye care center will offer comprehensive eye care services while also having access to corneal, retinal and pediatric specialists as well as many other specialties connected through the Ohio Eye Associates. Nigh-Bruner will also have two local office personnel on staff: an optician and a technician.
Nigh-Bruner, a Colonel Crawford graduate, received her Doctor of Optometry degree from The Ohio State University.