[Ct-nfb] FW: NEI Press Release: New NIH resources help growing number of Americans with vision loss

Elizabeth Rival erival at comcast.net
Fri Feb 1 21:31:25 UTC 2013


 

 

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Subject: FW: NEI Press Release: New NIH resources help growing number of
Americans with vision loss

 

Dear DORS-BESB staff and community partners,

 

As many of you may already know, February is Low Vision Awareness Month.
Immediately below is an announcement from the National Eye Institute
regarding educational information that they have available. Please help to
spread the news about Low Vision Awareness Month to educate others about low
vision and the services that are available, including the services provided
by BESB.

 

  _____  

From: Janiszewski, Rosemary (NIH/NEI) [E] [mailto:rjaniszewski at nei.nih.gov] 

Subject: NEI Press Release: New NIH resources help growing number of
Americans with vision loss 

 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
NIH News National Eye Institute

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, February 1, 2013

 

Contact:

National Eye Institute

(301) 496-5248

neinews at nei.nih.gov

 

New NIH resources help growing number of Americans with vision loss 

 

A 20-page large-print booklet and a series of videos to help people adapt to
life with low vision are available from the National Eye Institute (NEI), a
part of the National Institutes of Health. The materials were released
during Low Vision Awareness Month, February 2013.

 

The booklet, Living with Low Vision: What you should know, urges people with
low vision to seek help from a low vision specialist and provides tips to
maximize remaining eyesight, enabling them to safely enjoy a productive and
rewarding life. The videos feature patient stories about living with low
vision. Another video, targeted to health care professionals, emphasizes the
importance of informing patients with vision loss about vision
rehabilitation services. The booklet and the videos were developed by the
NEI National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP).

 

Low vision means that even with regular glasses, contact lenses, medicine,
or surgery, people find everyday tasks difficult to do. Reading the mail,
shopping, cooking, and writing can seem challenging. The chief causes of
vision loss in older people are age-related macular degeneration, diabetic
retinopathy, cataract, and glaucoma. Among younger Americans, low vision is
most often caused by inherited eye conditions, infectious and autoimmune eye
disease, or trauma. 

 

A 2012 report cosponsored by the National Institutes of Health estimates
that 2.9 million Americans are living with low vision. The number is
projected to increase 72 percent by 2030 when the last of the baby boomers
turn 65. Most people with low vision are 65 years old or older. 

 

"I encourage anyone with low vision to seek guidance about vision
rehabilitation from a low vision specialist," said NEI Director Paul A.
Sieving, M.D., Ph.D.  "For many people, vision rehabilitation can improve
daily living and overall quality of life."  

 

A low vision specialist is an ophthalmologist or optometrist who specializes
in the care of patients with low vision. A low vision specialist can develop
a rehabilitation plan that identifies strategies and assistive devices
appropriate for a person's particular needs, which vary depending on the
person's age and the source and severity of vision loss. As described in the
booklet and videos, vision rehabilitation services include:

 

.             training to use magnifying and adaptive devices

.             learning new daily living skills to remain safe and live
independently

.             developing strategies to navigate inside and outside the home

.             providing resources and support to help patients with vision
loss

 

"A vision rehabilitation plan helps people reach their true visual potential
when nothing more can be done from a medical or surgical standpoint," said
Mark Wilkinson, O.D., a low vision specialist at the University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics and a NEHEP planning committee member. "Vision
rehabilitation can make a world of difference to a person adjusting to
vision loss and should be considered part of the continuum of care. I urge
health professionals to help their patients with low vision seek vision
rehabilitation services." 

 

The NEI is committed to finding new ways to improve the lives of people
living with visual impairment. The NEI currently dedicates more than $24
million to research projects aimed at low vision. Projects include learning
how the brain adapts to vision loss, strategies to improve vision
rehabilitation, and the development of new technologies to help people with
low vision read, shop, and find their way in unfamiliar places.  

 

Statistics on low vision are taken from the report, 2012 Fifth Edition of
Vision Problems in the U.S., available on the NEI website at
http://www.nei.nih.gov/eyedata. 

The new NEI booklet and videos along with other resources for people with
low vision can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.nei.nih.gov/lowvision.

 

Spokespersons, including NEI researchers, low vision specialists, and people
with low vision, are available to speak to the press. 

 

###

 

The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, leads
the federal government's research on the visual system and eye diseases. NEI
supports basic and clinical science programs that result in the development
of sight-saving treatments. For more information, visit
http://www.nei.nih.gov. 

 

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical
research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal
agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical
research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIH...Turning Discovery Into HealthR

 

 

 

 

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