Welcome to my Virtual Practice

October 15, 2020

To All My Patients:

It is with a combination of both excitement and sorrow that I am announcing my retirement from practice effective at the end of the 2020 calendar year.  My office will officially close on Friday, December 18, 2020.  This was a challenging decision to make, but it is the right decision at the right time.  The closing of my practice will also be the closing of a more then 100 year chapter in District of Columbia health care. 

The “Kraskin” name in DC and around the world has been synonymous with the behavioral model of vision care initially beginning with my grandfather, Dr. Lewis H. Kraskin, who began practicing at 935 F Street, NW.  An advertisement in the January 8, 1918 Evening Star newspaper stated,

“If you have eye troubles consult our eyesight specialist, Dr. Lewis H. Kraskin.  Eyestrain oftentimes is responsible for headaches, dizziness, etc.  He will tell you the condition of your eyes and if glasses are needed…” 

He later moved to the second floor of the Riggs Bank Building on 9^th and F Street, NW.  Dr. Lewis Kraskin, who was published nationally and internationally in optometric journals dating into the late 1920s as far away as the Australasian Journal of Optometry to the New York Dental Observe to published articles about the vision care he provided in numerous newspapers across the US.  Dr. Lewis Kraskin served on the DC licensing Board of Optometry and even represented the DC Government before the U.S. Congress House Committee on the District of Columbia.  My late father joined the practice in 1951 after graduating from the then referred to as the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry (PSCO). 

Dr. Lewis Kraskin was a charter founding member of PSCO.  My grandfather passed away unexpectedly in 1953.  Prior to entering PSCO, my father, Robert (Bob) Kraskin was a jazz trumpeter in the early years playing with some of the great jazz musicians from that era like Dizzy Gillespie.  My father’s jazz recordings are a family treasure along with his trumpet that he hung up to pursue Optometry.  Dr. Robert Kraskin was an internationally renowned author, lecturer, and practitioner continuing in the family tradition of the development of the behavioral model of vision and the offering of visual training therapy. 

A critical staple to the practice was the ever-present Mrs. Marion Kraskin, my mother, who helped not only manage the practice but was an integral part of patient care serving in the visual training room.  She passed away January, 2020.  Although, she said that her job was to be those extra pair of hands, she truly had great knowledge than most certified vision therapists.  She could look at patients as they entered the office and could advise what their functional visual needs most likely might be. 

My father passed away in 1996 after having served in many positions including serving as chair of the DC licensing Board of Optometry and as a consultant to Project Head Start under President Lyndon B. Johnson developing an early childhood vision development screening.

During my undergraduate years, I began working summers in the office as another pair of those extra hands.  Professionally, I entered the office after graduating from what was by then referred to as the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1980.  Along with my undergraduate degree in early childhood education and elementary education, my degree in Optometry allowed me the increased insight into learning-related visual problems.  During my years of practice, I have devoted more of my time to direct office practice and lecturing while serving the DC community in various roles from Mayoral appointments to ANC Commissioner, and serving for over 20 years as President of the DC licensing Board of Optometry.

As patients in our practices you have had the opportunity to experience a long history of Optometric vision care devoted to ensuring the most up-to-date functional vision care to help meet your daily visual needs.  Whether as an infant, a student, a sports player or enthusiast, a parent, or in any area of life and professional interest, our vision care has always been more than just eyeball health and the ability to see clearly. 

Attached to this letter you will find a list of Optometric colleagues to provide you with that continued care along with a list of other professionals that may be of service to you in the future.

It is important for you to have continuity in your vision health care.  Therefore, would you please contact me by email at jlkraskin.office@gmail.com to arrange when you or a family representative can come by the office to receive your patient record file.  The office will formally close for patient care on December 18, 2020, but I will arrange for distribution of patient records after the holiday period during January and February.

Thank you for choosing the Kraskin practice for your vision care.  It has been an honor and pleasure to have had the opportunity to know and work with you over these many years.

                                                                                                               Sincerely,