About

Dr. Jessica Hegewald, O.D.

Dr. J grew up in Idaho where she developed a love and a passion for the outdoors. She attended undergraduate school at Idaho State University, financing her education by working for the BLM as a wildland firefighter in the summers. She completed her doctorate training near Portland, Oregon at Pacific University College of Optometry. She completed an internship in Bethel, Alaska at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital which served the Yupik tribe by taking bush planes into the different fishing villages to provide eye care for the residents. She moved to Colorado in 2008, accepting a job in Colorado Springs with a company who's goal is to provide vision care to the underprivileged and underserved children in the community. Wanting to continue a life/profession of service, she also joined the Colorado Air National Guard and worked for several years as the Chief of Optometry for the 140th Wing at Buckley Air Force Base. She currently serves as the Medical Group Commander. She has represented Colorado and the Air Force on several humanitarian missions including missions to Morocco and Mongolia. She also deployed with a medical team to provide assistance during Hurricane Harvey, and assisted the State in their COVID response.

Dr. J is married to a Colorado Native and has two adult children. She has a lot of hobbies that continually brought them up to Summit County almost every weekend. She and her family enjoy biking, hiking, kayaking and backpacking in the summers and back-country hut trips and resort skiing in the winter. Missing the smaller community and wanting to be in the outdoors that they love, Dr. J and her husband moved up to Silverthorne in 2017. Their mission is to improve the lives in the community through caring and advanced eye care. They are looking to continue the life/profession of service and to become an integral part of this mountain community and a staple in the Town of Silverthorne.

Dr. Megan Schmauder

Dr. Megan Schmauder is a Colorado native who is very excited to be moving back to the mountains. She spent many years in Reno, Nevada and received her undergraduate degree from CU-Boulder. She received her doctorate from Pacific University College of Optometry and completed a post-graduate fellowship in Seattle in the areas of pediatrics, vision therapy, specialty contact lenses, and anterior segment disease. While at Pacific, she served on the board of AMIGOS, a student group that organized vision service trips abroad. She has also recently completed a fellowship through the American Academy of Optometry.

Dr. Megan and her husband love the outdoors. You might see them competing in the Summit Mouintain Challenge Race Series or skinning up the mountain in the winter time. In her free time, Dr. Megan really enjoys hiking/backpacking, skiing, drinking tea, playing volleyball, and reading the occasional fantasy novel.

Matt Bowman -- Office Manager

Matt is your quintessential Summit County Native. Born and raised here, Matt loves everything outdoors. You can often find him spending his free time fly fishing our amazing Gold Medal rivers, or Jeeping on some of the local trails. His love for fly fishing and travel has taken him to many places across the globe, including the Bahamas, Japan, and Belize, and to several other states here in the US, including Maryland, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Flordia. And every year, Matt takes time to go to Louisanna to fly fish for Redfish (the photo to the left).

We ran into Matt the first time at Ace Hardware, and were extremely impressed by his knowledge and his customer service. Whether he was helping us work our new chainsaw or teaching me about the Green Egg to suprise my husband, he blew us away with his professionalism and attention to detail. When Ace closed, he came over to work with us at Blue River Vision and he has been with us ever since.

Matt's professionalism and dedication to our patients has been truly impressive. He is committed to providing you with the best care possible in Summit County. He truly has been an asset to our team and has proved himself as a great leader for our newer staff members.

Stop on in and let Matt help you with any of your eye care needs....or just ask about the Avalanche and how their season is going.