Good work is often already underway before anyone steps in to support it. That is the case with Dr. Malia Harvey, who is preparing to open an independent optometry practice in Valley, Alabama, with a clear idea of the services she wants to provide and the community she plans to serve.
Good-Lite first became aware of Dr. Harvey through coverage of her scholarship recognition and her plans to practice in an underserved area of Alabama. Rather than deciding what support might be useful, the company reached out through the UAB School of Optometry and asked Dr. Harvey directly about her goals and the equipment that would best complement the practice she is building.
A Practice Built Around Community Needs
Dr. Harvey plans to provide routine eye care while also developing pediatric eye care, low vision services, vision therapy, and community outreach. During optometry school, she organized and participated in grassroots vision screening events through her church and local community organizations, and she intends to continue that kind of outreach as her practice becomes established.
She has also described the need in Chambers County. According to Dr. Harvey, the area has been without a full-time optometrist for approximately four years, with only one other optometrist in the county practicing part-time. Her new practice will add another full-time eye care presence in the area.
Dr. Harvey currently has enough equipment to fully establish one examination lane and is already thinking about future growth. She identified pediatric testing materials, low vision aids, vision therapy tools, color vision testing equipment, near vision cards, stereopsis materials, trial frames, examination lenses, and other clinical resources that could support the services she plans to provide.
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Listening Before Giving
Good-Lite responded with an in-kind equipment donation shaped around the needs Dr. Harvey shared. The donation was not about defining what her practice should become. She had already established that direction herself.
Instead, Good-Lite had the opportunity to listen to an early-career optometrist, understand what would be useful, and contribute practical support to plans that were already underway.
In her most recent update to the Good-Lite team, Dr. Harvey shared that her LLC is now established, her business paperwork is complete, and she has moved to Auburn. She is preparing to begin seeing patients in Valley on September 10, 2026.
She also shared her appreciation for the equipment Good-Lite supplied.
โI am incredibly excited and grateful for the opportunity to provide much-needed eye care to the patients in this area.โ
โ Dr. Malia Harvey, Independent Optometrist
Looking Ahead
Dr. Harvey said she hopes to reconnect in a year or two and share how the practice is growing and the services she has been able to provide using equipment she described as durable and trustworthy.
For Good-Lite, the value of the story is in the relationship behind the donation. Dr. Harvey brings the training, the plan, and the commitment to serve her community. Good-Lite has had the opportunity to support that work by listening first and contributing equipment that fits the needs she identified.
As Dr. Harvey prepares to begin seeing patients in Chambers County, this is still the beginning of the story. A future update will offer a fuller picture of how the practice develops and how her plans for care in the community take shape.
