What kinds of resources are available to help seniors with severe vision impairment? My wife has macular degeneration and has become very discouraged. What can you tell us?
Looking for Help
Dear Looking
Unfortunately, there are millions of older Americans with incurable vision impairment, making everyday tasks like cooking dinner, reading the newspaper or watching television challenging. But the good news is there are resources, tools and techniques available today that can help. Here’s what you should know.
Growing Problem
According to the National Eye Institute, 3.3 million Americans age 40 and over currently live with low vision or blindness – usually brought on by one of the big four age-related eye diseases: macular degeneration; glaucoma; cataracts; or diabetic retinopathy – and that number is expected to double over the next 30 years. (The terms vision impairment, or low vision, means that even with eyeglasses, contact lenses, medicine or surgery, you don’t see well.) Those affected often sink into depression, suffer hip fractures and other injuries, and become socially isolated. While not much can be done to prevent these diseases, there are some things your wife and you can do to help her cope with and manage her condition.
Hands-On Help
Are you aware of vision rehabilitation services? Today, there are hundreds of vision rehabilitation agencies, organizations and clinics across the country that can help people, and their families, adapt to living with vision loss. While vision rehabilitation cannot restore lost sight, it does help people maximize their existing sight or, if they have no vision, it can equip them with techniques and tools to maintain an independent lifestyle. Services vary, but many offer eye examinations, low vision evaluations and professional counseling, along with special training on how to perform everyday activities in new ways and training to use visual and adaptive devices. They may also offer tips and guidance for modifying the home, and support from others with low vision. To find a program in your area visit www.lighthouse.org – click on “Help Near You.” Costs for these types of services range in the ballpark of $200 to $300 for an initial vision evaluation, and $50 to $100 per hour there after. While Medicare and most private insurance coverage is spotty at best and more often non-existent, most state agencies for the blind and visually impaired offer low cost or free services.
Other Resources
If you can’t find a vision rehabilitation service in your area, there are other resources that can help like the American Foundation for the Blind, which created a special site for seniors with low vision (www.afb.org/seniorsite), and VisionAWARE (www.visionaware.org), a nonprofit public charity. These sites offer tons of information, instructional videos and articles providing everyday solutions to living with vision loss including tips for adapting your home to make it safer and easier to maneuver, techniques for traveling safely outside the home, and ideas on how to manage your finances, medication and other tasks like cooking, cleaning, grooming, reading, writing and more. They also list a variety of low vision adaptive products and computer technology that can help improve your quality of life and help you get back to doing the things you enjoy.
Another helpful resource is Lighthouse International, a nonprofit offering great information on their Web site and a free new guide called “Living Better: A Guide for People with Vision Loss.” To get a copy, visit www.lighthouse.org or call 212-821-9567.
Macular Update
Most seniors with low vision have age-related macular degeneration. While treatment options, for most, are limited, the wet form of macular degeneration, which affects about 15 percent of those who get the disease, got a big boost last year. Two drugs (Lucentis and Avastin) are now available that can stop vision loss and may even restore it. But the dry form, which affects the other 85 percent, has no cure. However, you may be able to slow it’s progression by not smoking, an early diagnosis, a diet rich in antioxidants, and by taking AREDS formula vitamin supplements which you can find in drug stores, supermarkets and health food stores.
