Employee Spotlight, Ramon Ruffy, MD

When did you start working at Crystal Run Healthcare?

I joined Crystal Run Healthcare approximately 8 years ago, after several years in single-specialty private practice.

What made you choose a career in this field?

I chose Ophthalmology out of a pure academic interest. As a pre-medical undergraduate student, I wrote an honors thesis in which I investigated the way monochromatic (laser) light interacted with biological tissues. Years later, during an ophthalmology elective in medical school, I saw firsthand how that laser technology was used to help legally-blind patients see or preserve sight in patients with vision-threatening disease. I knew then that ophthalmology would be my eventual career calling.

What is your biggest accomplishment within your career thus far?

After many years in practice I find it challenging to pick just one career-defining  accomplishment. But in general, I would have to say that among my greatest accomplishments are the moments when I  play a therapeutic role in a patient’s visual improvement. For instance, it’s handshake I get when I  am able to noninvasively  remove a visually-significant scar that developed  after cataract surgery;  it’s the tears of gratitude on a patient’s face when he no longer needs glasses to see clearly after  refractive surgery;  it’s also the sigh of relief from a mother when her child who,  after intensive  intravenous therapy,  is now able to read the letters on the Snellen chart again  after seeing just shadows for several days prior. These moments of visual reawakening that I have the privilege to partake in,  I feel, are among the greatest accomplishments in ophthalmology.

What is your favorite part about working at Crystal Run Healthcare?

Previously, while in single-specialty practice, I found it  challenging to refer a patient to another subspecialty and/or provider for additional testing and treatment. Now, as provider at Crystal Run Healthcare, I have access to a vast network of some 400 providers both in primary care and various subspecialties across several counties. Thus, I have never been at a loss for someone to consult with when a particular patient’s eye condition requires further systemic evaluation or treatment. The collegiate and collaborative atmosphere fostered by this multispecialty practice makes it such a pleasure to practice timely, effective and evidenced-based medicine.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I often tell my patients that my second full-time job is being a parent to three school-age children.  When I’m not giving a talk at a school during Career Week, I can often be seen volunteering at competitions, fundraising for my children’s teams, biking, rollerblading, gardening or painting landscapes in watercolor.