Meet a council member: Keith Tempany
Tell us a bit about yourself?
I live with my wife and two chocolate labs in a rural part of Dorset. When you live with chocolate labs you will laugh at least once a day, they are the jokers of the Labrador pack and brilliant stress busters! I enjoy watching most sports and have played football up to Western league standard in my youth but the pinnacle was playing in the same team as my son before he went off to university. Outside of contact lenses my passion is for cooking and wine.
Why did you join the BCLA?
I’d just started to fit contact lenses and was fascinated in this new world of contact lenses & anterior eye and wanted to know more, it sounds a little bit twee, but I really wanted to be the best CLO that I could be. This was in the days before the plethora of CET that we now have and the best place for this type of knowledge was the BCLA and it was amazing to rub shoulders with the good and the great in the contact lens world.
What encouraged/inspired you to apply to be on BCLA Council?
I wanted to be able to give something back to the profession that I have enjoyed for so long, I was encouraged to apply by past President Nick Atkins and I have enjoyed every moment. I particularly remember attending my first council meeting feeling happy at being there but harbouring no ambition whatsoever to be President.
Apart from the benefits, what else do you get from being member the BCLA?
There are far more tangible benefits these days than when I first joined, which as a council member I am very proud of. As a lone practitioner there is amazing support and comradery within the BCLA, an abundance of friends to bounce ideas off and to help.
What is it like being a member of the BCLA council?
An immense privilege to be able to guide the Association through the various challenges that we have faced over the years. There is also a tremendous buzz that you get when you hosted a workshop/ given a presentation that has been well received, a feeling of helping others find their own way in Contact lenses and anterior eye, helping the new generation of practitioners.
What message would you like to give to members / non-members?
To members be as active as you can be, it really is a case of the more you put in, the more you get out of it. If you work with contact lenses this is the best organisation for both education but also support. Keep an open mind if you are considering joining, in the past we have been accused of being London centric and an old boys club, we have worked unbelievably hard at dispelling both of these rumours, focusing on creating not only a nationwide but international group of like minded colleagues and friends. There are a huge amount of member benefits now including the Dry Eye certificate and the new Myopia Management certificate which will help you in you day to day work life.
What do you think will be the biggest change in contact lenses and the anterior eye over the next five years?
Without doubt Myopia Management, it will become mainstream, and be discussed at every relevant opportunity. I think it will also evolve into co management as the combined treatments are showing promising results.
Biography
Keith Tempany qualified in 1976 and having worked within independent and multiple practices opened a fee based contact lens only practice in 2002, specialising in contact lenses for irregular corneae, RGP’s, multifocals and Orthokeratology. Keith has presented many workshops on contact lenses and dry eye and has been invited to talk at meetings both nationally and internationally. He has also been shortlisted for 7 Optician awards winning Contact Lens Practitioner of the Year in 2010 and 2014. Keith joined BCLA council in 2009 and was voted in as President in 2017.