If you or somebody you love is struggling with vision impairment, there’s a free forum to answer your questions and inform you of options.
The Lighthouse Guild helps people flourish despite vision loss, and aims to inform the community about options for prevention. It’s holding “VISION FOR LIFE: What You Need to Know to Prevent Vision Loss During COVID-19 and Beyond.” The free virtual forum is Feb. 24 at 4 p.m.
You can sign up for the free forum by clicking here.
While the pandemic has forced the extensive use of screens and blue light, people are dealing with issues of eye strain, headaches and sleep disruption due to blue light. In addition, some have hesitated to seek care from eye physicians in person.
Panelists will include Dr. Calvin Roberts, President & CEO of Lighthouse Guild, April Jasper OD, FAAO of West Palm Beach and Dr. Terence P. O'Brien of Palm Beach Gardens.
“It’s the person behind the eyes that are most important, so how they use their eyes,” explained Roberts, who believes being an eye doctor is the best job in the world. “The greatest joy that an eye doctor gets is when you see someone’s life change as a result of your work. Truly. When the opportunity for a grandparent to see their grandchildrens' faces that they haven’t ever seen.”
Dr. Roberts encourages people to get regular eye exams as some issues can be discovered before they are even noticed.
“In most conditions in ophthalmology, early detection is really the key,” he said.
Major advancements in medicine and technology have been made in recent years.
“New innovations in the treatment and care of some of the most severe eye diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration. To have the potential to not only prevent vision loss but in some cases to actually reverse it. To actually restore some of the vision in these people,” said Roberts.
Lighthouse Guild offers a wide range of services to help people adjust and improve their quality of life, including physical therapy, technology training and education.
“At Lighthouse Guild, what we love to do, is to teach people how to use their computers without sight like they did when they had sight. So there’s many things we can do, from enlarging text on the screen, actually having text readers,” said Dr. Roberts.
