ACAO - Alberta College and Association of Opticians

Mission

To protect the public by keeping them informed and by pro-actively regulating and educating our members...

As health practitioners, nothing is more important to us than the public’s health and safety. We educate and regulate our members to ensure the protection of the public.

All registered opticians in Alberta must maintain their skills through continuing competency courses. For example, our Health and Safety, and Infection Control courses focus specifically on public safety.

The Alberta College and Association of Opticians (ACAO)

acts as both a college and association for opticians. This means that in addition to being the regulatory body for opticians, we are also made up of opticians. By self-regulating, we ensure that our members feel a personal responsibility to advance the profession in service of the public.

Vision

To be dedicated to providing quality service by competent and educated health practitioners. We strive to achieve our vision by being progressive, accountable and accessible to the public and our members...

The standards for becoming an optician in Alberta are high. In addition to the initial education standards, continuous learning is mandatory. Therefore, we can be sure that the public is receiving an excellent quality of service from competent and educated health practitioners.

A well as serving the public, the ACAO is here to serve our members. We strive to achieve our vision for both the public and our members by being progressive, accountable, and accessible to all.

In practice, this means keeping up with current advancements in the field to ensure our continuing education programs offer the latest information. It also means stepping in to resolve any issues that may arise between members and the public, and being open about costs and spending. Finally, it means making ourselves available to answer any questions and offer help to both the public and opticians.

Values

Accountability, ethicality, fairness, effectiveness, openness, transparency. The ACAO is built on these six pillars of integrity...

Accountability: We promise to be accountable to the public and to our members. As their regulatory body, we take responsibility for the actions of registered opticians in Alberta. We also ensure that our registered members are competent practitioners, and are aware of their responsibilities to the public.
Ethicality: We take the ethical responsibilities of health professions seriously. Therefore, we are committed to ensuring best practices for health and safety, privacy, and more.
Fairness: We will always treat the public and our members fairly. As such, we will resolve accusations of professional misconduct, and implement disciplinary action when necessary.
Effectiveness: We are constantly striving to improve our effectiveness as a regulatory body and as an association. We make every effort to advance and update our services. We also strive to provide easy access to information for the public and our members.
Openness: As an organization, we believe that fostering an open dialogue with members is the best way to improve our performance. Through member participation in committees and council meetings, we encourage active participation in the regulation of the ACAO.
Transparency: From our finances to our policies and more, we believe that our organization should be transparent to the public and the members we represent. Information about our activities and spending will be publicly available, insofar as it does not contradict our responsibility to keep private information safe.

RECENT POSTS:

Eighth Line: Summer 2018, Issue 108

Free Information Session in Medicine Hat

Notice: Updates to the OHS Act

Notice: Essilor Court Case Outcome

Notice: Videos for Opticians

Notice: 2018 OAC Membership Update

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