Looking back on the past, focusing on the future

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Wendy Thienes

Shaunavon Standard

Dr. Barry Thienes has visions of retirement as he looks back on 50 years of serving the eyecare needs of people in southwest Saskatchewan and beyond.

Dr. Thienes was raised on a farm in the North Fork district, north of Eastend. He says, “I went to the country school, and I was the only one in my grade. There were two students above me. I was always doing their work, so they let me skip grade 4 into Grade 5. I then went to Eastend High School starting in Grade 7 as the roads had come through so we could go by school bus to Eastend.” After graduating, Thienes attended the University of Saskatchewan for one year and then headed to Waterloo where he completed the 4-year program in Optometry in 1975, one of only a few students admitted with just one year of university instead of the normally required two.

Thienes says, “I didn’t really think about returning to Shaunavon to practice until my last year in Waterloo. The optometrist in Shaunavon at that time was Dr. Harvey Kuntz. He had encouraged me to go into optometry, and he was going to be moving to Moose Jaw.” Thienes joined his practice on June 2, 1975, and completed the mandatory (at that time) 6-month preceptorship under a licensed optometrist.

Thienes bought the practice in the summer of 1976. “I was busy right from the start but figured I could handle more so I thought I could go somewhere else, too. I went to Ponteix for three or four months and then in late 1976 the optometrist in Maple Creek asked me to take over his practice.” Thienes started traveling there one day per week in January

1977 and has been going on Mondays and Wednesdays since 2000.

Thienes partnered with the physicians of the day in 1975 and built the building where the clinic is currently housed at 492 Centre Street. His first office in 1975 was in the back of the Shadbolt building at 420 Centre Street. He explains, “In January 1976 we moved into our current building. There were always two or three doctors on the other side. The back has housed a pharmacy, barber, tanning salon and then dentists up until about 2018.” He estimates that the adjacent physician clinic saw

35-40 doctors from 1976-2013. In 2013 his son and daughter-in-law, Garrett & Kristy Thienes, renovated that space and opened Harvest Eatery next door.

Travel has been a passion for Dr. Thienes, both for work and pleasure.

His schooling in Waterloo provided internship opportunities abroad in the Caribbean, Grenada, Dominica, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman. That opportunity inspired him and created the pathway for continued trips to other countries with Canadian Vision Care throughout his career. Those work trips have included St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Malawi, Tanzania, Philippines, and Cambodia. Canadian Vision Care is a group of optometrists who started a charitable organization in 1981 to help people around the world gain access to eyecare services.

Thienes also had the opportunity to provide service closer to home with trips to northern Saskatchewan Indigenous communities, a service that began in the province in 1983. Thienes says, “I had my pilot license, so I decided to buy a plane. With my own plane, it made good sense to take on that work. Our first trips were in 1986/1987 to Pelican Narrows, Deschambault Lake and Southend. From 1995-2005 we moved further north and visited Stony Rapids, Black Lake, and Fond du Lac. Trips to those communities were usually two or three weeks, for a week at a time.” His brother, Michael Thienes, is an Optician and joined Barry in the practice in 1992 and accompanied him on several northern trips.

Dr. Thienes explains that Optometrists provide primary care and dispensing. “We’re a one-stop shop.” When Thienes first started his practice, he did not have an edging facility to make glasses on-site. He says, “I soon realized it would be a better service to have our own edging operation. Single vision and simpler prescriptions can be in stock and made right away.”

Thienes states that the biggest change he has witnessed in the profession is the expansion of scope of practice, moving from being refractionists and testing power for glasses and selling glasses to being much more health-focused. “When I first started, we couldn’t even put drops in people’s eyes. Prescribing drops came in 1995 with limited types and now we can prescribe more and even prescribe oral medication for eye health. It’s moving to expand again soon to allow minor surgical procedures and treatment lasers for the front of the eye. I took that course last Spring. It’s focused on oncology and treatment of glaucoma, most commonly done with lasers or eyedrops.”

In 2014, the government began to cover diabetic eye exams and, most recently, added coverage for some treatment of glaucoma. Thienes has been able to identify various health conditions over the years including eye cancers, diabetic retinopathy, high blood pressure, strokes (some strokes only affect visual cortex), ocular migraine (flashing), and retinal detachments, to name some. He notes technology advancements, mostly around diagnosis, explaining, “We could always check pressures but the air puff (to test pressures) was one of the substantial changes.

Since the early 2000’s there have been advancements so that we can see inside the eye using instruments such as the Optomap and OCT (optically coherent tomography). The Optomap produces the ‘picture’ of your eyeball. OCT became common in 2010 and gives the best visualization of the macula, detecting glaucoma and early stages of macular degeneration.”

Thienes admits he likes to be involved and has served in several roles in professional associations. In 1979 he joined the Council for the Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists, serving as the Registrar in the days before staff was hired and in various executive roles until 1994. The next decade was spent following his children Garrett, Allyssa, Roderick, and Sara in their activities. In 2007 he was asked to join the Canadian Association of Optometrists, serving in various roles until 2021. He is also a member of Eye Recommend, a buying cooperative supporting independent optometrists across Canada. Dr. Thienes served as President for two years for each of those Associations and as Chair of the Board for Eye Recommend for 2 years.

Over his career he has seen the number of optometrists in the province grow from about 85 to over 200.

Dr. Thienes will celebrate another 50-year milestone in 2026 as he and his wife, Shirley, celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Shirley has been a key partner in the practice throughout the years.

When asked what he is most looking forward to in retirement, Thienes says, “I don’t know. We like to travel. Our goal is to take the trailer and do a circumnavigation of North America, tentatively planned for 2027. I enjoy working in the yard, going to the cabin, and visiting friends across Canada. Maybe we’ll spend more time in winter down south (Costa Rica or elsewhere).” The couple also has eight grandchildren whom they love to spend time with. At 72 years of age, Dr. Thienes still exhibits great enthusiasm for his profession and genuine concern for his patients. Thienes is optimistic that someone will take over his practice within the next couple of years. “I didn’t think it would be such a struggle to find someone as I still think it’s a better way of life than in an urban centre. Shaunavon is the smallest town in Saskatchewan right now that has a resident optometrist. It’s been a very good life for us here.”