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OFFICIAL WIN FREE LASIK RULES/ RELEASE FORM:
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.
1. Eligibility: The “ LASIK for Local Heroes”  Promotion is open only to to Bay, Gulf, Washington, and Holmes County police officers, firefighters, EMT's, paramedics, and past/present military personel who have served in a time of war, who have submitted a valid entry during the promotion period and have not previously underwent laser vision correction.
2. How to Enter: Electronic Entry: Like the Eye Center of North Florida Facebook page and click on Contest button. Complete the digital registration and then upload a written essay. By confirming your entry, you give ECNF permission to contact you to offer information about its services and a free consultation. All entries become the exclusive property of Sponsor, may be used in any marketing campaign, and none will be returned.
3. Surgery date: Winner will select a surgery date in the month of September
4. Release: By submitting an entry, you agree to release and hold harmless Sponsor and its subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, distributors, advertising/promotion agencies, and each of such company’s officers, directors, employees and agents (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from and against any claim or cause of action, including, but not limited to, personal injury, death, or damage to or loss of property, arising out of participation in the Promotion or receipt or use or misuse of the Prize.
5. Publicity: Except where prohibited, acceptance of the Prize constitutes your consent to Sponsor’s and its agents’ use of your name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions and/or hometown and state for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration. Upon Sponsor’s request, the winner agrees to provide Sponsor with written and/or recorded interviews and testimonials, in a form satisfactory to Sponsor, without further consideration.
6. General Conditions: Submission of an entry constitutes your full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and Sponsor’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Promotion, or any part of it, if any fraud or any other factor beyond Sponsor’s reasonable control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Promotion, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Promotion or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Promotion may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

Enter for your chance to win one Bi-lateral Blade – Free LASIK procedure (an Approximate Retail Value of $4,000).

Like the Eye Center of North Florida Facebook page and click on the Contest button. Select the ESSAY CONTEST TAB. Complete the digital registration and upload a written essay describing why you need LASIK.

Applications will be accepted August 1, 2013 through September 4, 2013. A team of judges will select a top three or four, who will then be notified September 2nd-6th and will have a free LASIK evaluation with Dr. Fisher. Online public voting will take place from September 6th-19th and the LASIK winner will be announced on September 20, 2013 at the Bay County Chamber First Responder's Luncheon, in which the top three contestants are asked to attend.

 

 

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Billy Mixon
Ms Reale,

My name is Billy Mixon. Thank you for providing the opportunity of Lasik procedures for the local heroes in Panama City.
I am a fire fighter for the Panama City Fire Department (PCFD) and perform duties as an Engineer. I have been married for three years to my lovely wife, Janice, and we have a beautiful 3 year old daughter, Mallory. We are a very active family that enjoys outdoor activates and sports when I’m not fulfilling my duties. I play softball for PCFD which host tournaments to raise money for North West Florida Burn Camp “Camp Amigo” and participle in the annual Fire Department Olympics. As a family, we enjoy going to the beach, canoeing, swimming, having cookouts, spending time with family members.
I have been employed with PCFD for six years. Being an Engineer, means you are the driver and responsible for every aspect of the truck. It is my job to get to each emergency call as quickly as possible while ensuring the safety of my passengers as well as members of the surrounding community. My job requires knowledge of every street and the location of all hydrants within the Panama City limits. My vision plays a major role in this and is a daily challenge that I face to read street signs and address numbers correctly. An error on the street name or address could mean loss of property or even worse lives. The biggest problem with wearing glasses as a driver is that they often fog up from the humidity or rain. I then have to clean them in order to see to drive the fire truck. This cleaning process is time consuming and could impair my driving as well as a distraction from my tasks of responding to emergency calls. I have contacts, but since I am far sighted with a slight stigmatism, they are uncomfortable and bothersome to wear them while performing a 24-hour shift of daily duty.
I also serve as a member of PCFD’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team. This is a specialized team for which I have trained for over 200 hours and am required to train monthly to maintain the state certification. The USAR team specializes in high angle and confined space rescue. When using these two disciplines for these type rescues, glasses cannot be worn under the breathing mask when working in extreme conditions.
What you call a hero, I call just doing my job. I am a firefighter because it is a calling which I am proud to answer. Thank you again for the opportunity of being considered for the Lasik procedures.
Billy Mixon
667 votes
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Jeffrey Rogers
I don’t remember being called “four eyes” or anything of the sort (perhaps I blocked it), but I do remember the misery of glasses in elementary and middle school. Kids sometimes like to tease and my thick lenses and bulky frames were too much fun to leave alone. By high school, I had accepted the glasses, but conveniently “forgot” them as often as I could. In the Marine Corps, I compensated for my “imperfect vision” by wearing whatever glasses or goggles they wanted me to and focusing on doing things exactly right. Now, as a police officer, I try to wear contacts when I can (which, if anyone wears contacts in a job like ours they know, is sometimes either absolutely miserable or absolutely impossible) but my glasses are sometimes necessary. It is a very true statement that my vision, not just my glasses, has gotten in the way every step of my life.



My name is Jeff Rogers, and I am a patrol officer with the Panama City Police Department. I have been with Panama City for four years. Prior to that I was with the Denver PD for a year and a half and the Lynn Haven PD for five years. In addition to my patrol duties, I am also a member of the S.W.A.T. team, Honor Guard and the department’s Marine unit.



First and foremost, I would like to thank the Eye Center of North Florida and others for sponsoring this contest. For many of us, this is the only possibility of having this surgery and the opportunity is a great blessing.



Everyone here is a hero, and everyone here would benefit from this surgery. The hardest part of this contest, for me at least, is to talk about myself. I struggle to present my case as the best one for this surgery, not because I don’t think I am deserving, but because I work every day with people who are also deserving of this prize. The fact is, we all work very hard, love the job and the opportunity for improved vision through LASIK is one we all hope for but can scarcely afford. So do I deserve this above everyone else here? I cannot answer that. What I can tell you is that it will help me immensely and it is probably very far out of reach without this prize. The needs and care of my wife and two young children will simply always take precedence over this type of elective surgery for me – regardless of how it would help me in the job. But do my struggles trying to provide for a family on an officer’s salary make me more worthy of this help than others? Probably not. If you love the job as I do, as many here do, this is simply the tradeoff you know you must accept.



Law enforcement is the only career I have ever wanted, and ever hope to have. I was brought up to give 100 percent to everything you do, and when you identify something you are passionate about to devote 150 or 200 percent to that. This is the key to happiness and success. While I certainly give my all and more to the job, as many of us do, I would like the opportunity to give more…to even more fully engage. Will LASIK surgery make me a better person, husband, father or officer? I can’t really say it will, because that is dependent on me. However, will it make life easier as I strive each day to be the best I can at each of these? The definitive answer is yes.
636 votes
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Brittany Cole
My name is Matthew Cole and I am a Panama City Police Officer. I have been with the department for a year now, and I previously served as a Panama City Beach Police Officer for three years. I recently got married to the love of my life and we were able to purchase our first home together. Recently, I received a Life Saving Award from the Panama City Police Department for saving an elderly man's life by performing CPR on him before paramedics could arrive. His family was kind enough to call the department and tell them what I had done. I am just happy he was able to live and spend more time with his family and loved ones. I was just doing my job, nothing more. I did not tell anyone I received the award until my wife found it lying on the table and bought me a cake, which I thought was pretty cool (that she bought me a cake, I love cake). I enjoy helping others, even if it is as simple as encouraging a teenager to stay away from a life of crime. Each day I look forward to the new challenges I face each day and pray that I can help change a life for the better. Because I am newly married, money is tight and I am in desperate need of Lasik surgery. I have worn glasses or contacts for most of my life, and would love to be able to see without wearing them. I think I could do so much more and be more aware at work if I had Lasik surgery. I think my wife would enjoy me being able to see clearly without having to point out every single thing she needs me to do at home. I am a dedicated Police Officer and dedicated to the citizens of Bay County. I am humble about my work, because it's not about me, it's about the people I protect and serve. My father and grandfather were both in the military, so I learned how to serve people from them. I have the utmost respect for the military and everything they do as well. I thank you all for allowing me to participate in this great contest. I think it means a lot for the community to gather around first responders and all we do. I am currently attending Gulf Coast State College to finish my degree, so being able to see to read and do my assignments would be really great. I want to continue to serve my community through work and through volunteer service. I am attending classes to become a Field Training Officer where I will train other officers within the department. I am about to turn 24, so I am far from knowing everything, but I look forward to helping other young officers like myself. I think this surgery would change my life forever and I cannot thank you enough for sponsoring this contest. I know there are a lot of amazing people that have applied and I thank them for serving alongside me in Bay County. It's not just one person that makes this community so great, it's everyone, including Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement and the Military.
315 votes
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Jessica Bruhmuller
To Whom It May Concern,

Please allow this letter to serve as correspondence concerning my nomination of Police Corporal Jessica Bruhmuller for the “Lasik for Local Heroes” contest. Jessica has been employed at the Panama City Beach Police Department for the past eleven years and also serves as the Investigative Secretary, Criminal Analyst, and Records Custodian. She further serves as the Coordinator for the department’s Auxiliary/Reserve program as well as numerous “non-essential” duties such as coordinating and assisting in the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas basket/toy runs for needy families on Panama City Beach. She unselfishly gives her time to these wonderful programs and without her they would not exist or run as smoothly as they do. I cannot think of another person more deserving of such a wonderful gift, and that’s what it would be to her…a wonderful gift. Not only does she don a Beach Police uniform and assist in a Patrol capacity, she spends countless hours in front of a computer screen manually reviewing and checking reports for mistakes. In that respect, I need not tell you how important this gift would be to her.

On a more personal level, Jessica is the kind of person that can literally be called upon at any time. I know that is said all the time about good people but I swear, I don’t care if it’s two o’clock in the afternoon or two o’clock in the morning, if you need her, she’ll be there. Jessica is the kind of person that brightens a gloomy day and with all the rain we’ve had lately, it’s been nice to have her around. Even when she’s not feeling well she doesn’t let it affect her optimism for life and can always put a smile on someone’s face. When she is feeling well she can walk in a room and I swear you can feel the souls of other people shutter with excitement. We live in a cynical world, and work in a mostly thankless job and I am honored each and every day that I am around Jessica because she reminds me that there are good and decent people still in the world, people that don’t mind doing for others and don’t mind if nothing is done for them. I hope that this CAN be done for her and I sincerely hope that you consider Jessica as a winner for the contest because she more than deserves it.


Sincerely,


Chad Lindsey
Major, Panama City Beach Police Department
294 votes
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