Rita Hutchinson
July 31, 2008
Helen Ann Hebert Martin
August 4, 2008
Dr. Louis Arnold “Budd” Cloutier Jr., owner of Cloutier Eyecare in Houma, has taken his savvy business skills and his knack for eye care and turned it into a win-win situation for his patients and himself.
Dr. Cloutier initially earned a Bachelor of Science in business management from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches in 1973 before deciding to go back to school to study optometry in 1980.
“Healthy eyes are essential to a patient’s overall health. As a person ages, it is very important to make sure that the eyes are in the best possible shape,” he said, explaining why he switched careers.
Shortly after receiving his doctor of optometry from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tenn., Dr. Cloutier and his wife Vicki, whom he met in undergraduate school at North-western, came to the Houma area where he took a job working with Vision Plaza in Southland Mall.
“Working at Vision Plaza allowed me to come in ‘green’ and have a lot of patients available to me,” he said. “Of course, the first years of practice helped me develop the skills I needed to be a successful optometrist.”
Dr. Cloutier worked at Vision Plaza for 10 years before he decided to go into private practice in 1994. His wife, Vicki, who serves as the office administrator, said she always knew the couple would eventually end up working side by side.
“We work well together because we really like building the practice, and it was an obvious transition that happened at the right time and in the right place,” she said.
The couple opened Cloutier Eyecare on West Main Street. Unlike most business owners who venture into self-employment for financial gain, Budd ventured into private practice because he wanted to offer a more personal touch to his patients in a family atmosphere.
“I felt a need to practice using my own personal values,” he said. “My patients deserve my best. That is what my practice is built on. That’s how we train our staff – to treat others the way we want to be treated.”
He noted that Houma’s growing market greatly increased the odds of building a successful business.
“There was a big bust in the oil field and things were really bad in 1984, but I believed that if you give great patient care and you treat people right, then if you are in the top 10 percent and the other 90 percent goes out of business, you will still have a job,” Dr. Cloutier said.
The Cloutiers went from having immediate family as their only patients to having more than 22,000 clients since opening 14 years ago.
“Some of the most tender moments are when a young child comes in with a hurt eye or just not knowing what to expect,” Vicki said. “Budd takes off his white coat and seems to magically make the child feel comfortable and gets the results he needs to diagnose and treat the problem.”
In some cases, Dr. Cloutier has diagnosed conditions like brain tumors, severe diabetes and detached retinas. He refers those patients for immediate emergency care, which his wife said has saved their vision and even their lives.
Every week, the staff meets to discuss what sets them apart from the competition.
“We strive to offer the best possible care a person can get because there are several eye care facilities in the area. We have to make sure that we help them solve their problem,” Vicki said.
“We try to give you the best quality product that is out there for our patients because we know the quality would hold up better than the cheaper one,” Dr. Cloutier added. “We carry name brand products in terms of our lenses and frames. We only deal with the top five manufacturers of contact lenses.”
The most recent change to Cloutier Eyecare is its location. The Cloutiers moved in April from their old West Main Street location to Enterprise Drive, approximately 75 yards from the old building.
“I wanted to purchase my own property in the neighborhood where my patients are used to coming,” he said. “We were able to update the facility, optical and frame selection and double our ability to care for patients. We can treat four patients at a time instead of the previous two in the old building.”
The clinic makes the newest technology available to its patients.
Dr. Cloutier specializes in eye care for all ages, including cataract care and diseases of the eye, LASIK corrective eye surgery, eyeglass fitting, contacts lenses, pediatrics and trauma to the eye.
“Your eyesight is precious,” he said. “How well you see has a lot to do with your success in life, your confidence and your everyday comfort. That’s where we put our time and focus.”
Dr. Louis A. “Budd” Cloutier Jr. conducts an eye exam at Cloutier Eyecare, a family eye care clinic on Enterprise Drive in Houma. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN
