Meet Dr. Gerdes!
Dr. Jerry Gerdes has been a practicing Doctor of Optometry since 2002.
He has been married to the love of his life, Cara, for 7 years. They have 2 young boys, Kirbo and Grant.
When Jerry was a young boy, his uncle, “Butch”, went blind from an eye disease that could have been prevented with early detection and treatment. This inspired Jerry to go to optometry school, because he knew he could help prevent this from happening to other people.
Dr. Gerdes loves his profession and enjoys taking care of his patients. When not working, he spends as much time as he can with his wife and kids, going to the park, swimming pool, Kart Ranch and The Children’s Museum. He enjoys jogging, Hi-Intensity Interval Training, and resistance training. Also, he’s a pretty decent cook, with Italian marinara being his specialty.
Awards
Dr. Gerdes has received multiple prestigious awards including:
- “Optometrist of the South in 2018” -chosen out of 7500 optometrists by the Southern Council of Optometrists
- “Optometrist of the Year” award by the Optometry Association of Louisiana in 2017.
- “Young Optometrist of the Year” award by the Optometry Association of Louisiana in 2009
Education
Dr. Gerdes is an alumni of Jesuit High School, Louisiana State University, and Southern College of optometry, where he was on the Dean’s list at all three schools. He has been in private practice for 17 years providing full scope visual and medical care as well as advanced laser surgical procedures including Laser YAG capsulotomies, SLT, and Laser Peripheral Iridotomies.
Recently, he completed the following continuing education courses:
- “Innovations and Future Technologies in Eye Care”
- “Diabetes Treatment and Management”
- “Minor Surgical Procedures in Primary Eye Care”
- “Injectable Medications in Primary Eye Care”
- “Nutrition and the Retina”
Volunteer Work
Dr. Gerdes volunteers for several non-profit organizations including St Bernadette’s Clinic for the Homeless, Lourdes Foundation, Faith House, for battered women, Acadiana Cares, and the Extra Mile, where he provides free Eyecare and eyewear to underprivileged clients of these organizations.
He has performed eye exams at Northside High School to students who lacked transportation to his office. He has provided Nursing Home eye exams to the elderly and bedridden residents at 7 Acadiana nursing homes.
He has provided free eye care on 3 mission trips to third world countries, and has a 4th trip scheduled.
Dr. Gerdes has served on the Optometry Association of Louisiana Board of Directors since 2005 to present day. He advanced to the OAL Executive Board in 2012 and served as president of the OAL from 2013 to 2014. He also served as InfantSEE chairman for Louisiana from 2006 to 2013. InfantSEE is a public service by which optometrists perform no-cost eye exams for infants between 6-12 months which aids in early detection and treatment of refractive error and eye disease. As InfantSEE chairman, he spread awareness of this public service by optometrists who provide no cost eyecare to infants between 6-12 months for early eye disease and refractive error detection.
He assisted in organizing and participated in the statewide InfantSEE mobile clinic in 2009. As an InfantSEE provider, Dr. Gerdes received state and national media coverage after he detected a potentially lethal eye cancer, “retinoblastoma” in a toddler’s eye.
Lectures and Media
He has given many lectures regarding eye disease treatment and preventive eye health care to Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, and General Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Medical Assistants, Nursing students as well to Community Health Networks, Rotary and Kiwanis clubs.
His lectures include:
- “Concise Eye Disease Pearls for the Busy Primary Care Clinician”
- “Insight into Your Eyes”
- “InfantSEE- the importance of eye exams for 6-12 month old infants”
- “Diabetes and the Eye”
- “Hypertension and the Eye”
- “Glaucoma- What You Need to Know”
- “Eye Urgencies and Emergencies”
- “Eye Anatomy and Physiology”
- “The Sun and Your Eyes”
He has conducted several television and radio interviews telling his story of how he, along with all doctors of optometry, can be the first line of defense in detecting life threatening diseases such as brain tumors. He was recently interviewed on television station KLAF after having detected “papilledema” or optic nerve head swelling in an eight-year-old boy during an eye exam which saved the boy’s life.