Shortage aside, young doctor lands in rural setting

Horizon EyeCare Professionals in Owatonna has added a third optometrist to the staff, a move that allows the practice to once again take on new patients.

Dr. Penny Vizina, co-owner of Horizon with Dr. Nicholas Vincelli, said that Dr. Madison Neale, began working at the practice in July 2025. Vizina said that in January 2024, two of the optometrists at the practice, a couple right out of school, made the decision to move to Mankato.

Down to two optometrists, she said, both had to increase the amount of time they spent with patients in addition to handling the business duties. Finally, she said, they had to make the decision to not accept new patients.

They have been trying since then to hire an additional doctor, an effort that has proved difficult because of the shortage of optometrists in general and the reluctance of new, younger doctors to move to a practice in a rural location, Vizina said.

Finally, after a year-and-a-half search, Neale came on board.

Neale said that although she started working at Horizon EyeCare in July, it was late 2025 before the pace had settled down enough for them to begin to see new patients.

She explained that both she and her husband have family roots in Minnesota. Neale spent her early years in southern Minnesota before her family moved to Illinois.

She did her undergraduate work at the University of Notre Dame. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in pre-professional studies in 2021 and then went to the Indiana University School of Optometry where she received her doctor’s degree in May 2025.

There are a limited number of schools that offer an optometry degree, she said, and none are in Minnesota. Most optometry students, she said, graduate from schools in Chicago, Oregon and Indiana.

During her last year of optometry school, she said she did rotations in four different states, three months each.

Each state has different regulations dealing with the practice of optometry, she said, and she is only currently licensed to practice in Minnesota.

She explained she had an eye condition growing up and when she was young “there were a lot of visits to the eye doctor.”

She also said she loved science when in school and knew she wanted a career in health care. When in high school she “fell in love with optometry” and even shadowed an optometrist.

Neale said there were several things that drew her to Horizon EyeCare, including the “wonderful variety,” the opportunity to care for a community and she really came to enjoy Owatonna and the surrounding area.

“I really get to take care of the community,” she said. “I love to be able to give time with each patient to teach, answer questions.”

The time allotted for each visit she said is between 30 to 40 minutes, shorter times with kids.

Neale and her husband, Matt, who works as a cybersecurity architect, live in Elko-New Market.

The difficulty in hiring an optometrist, she said, is nationwide, Vizina said. There are not many optometry schools in the United States, and they graduate only 1,200 new doctors each year. With many current optometrists aging and retiring, she said, there are simply not enough new graduates to meet the demand.

Also, she said, each state regulates what type of care optometrists can provide. Minnesota, she said, has some of the more restrictive requirements which keeps some students, who have learned techniques they cannot use here, from moving to Minnesota.

Also, most of the students from Minnesota who choose to go into optometry are female, she said, and when they graduate many of them decide not to return to the state.

There also is an issue with most younger optometrists not interested in moving to rural areas, and, of course, she said, given the amount of debt a student has when they graduate.

The practice of optometry has also changed, she said, as there are fewer independent optometry practices than in the past. The expense of running an independent practice has increased substantially, she said, because of such things as equipment cost and the cost of maintaining electronic records.

Given all that, she said, “Dr. Neale is very much a blessing. She’s a fabulous person, extremely good credentials.”

Vizina said the practice would still like to add at least one optometrist to the practice and is currently interviewing another student.