St. Francis Low Vision Program

Persons with low vision sometimes have a decreased level of independence in their daily activities. They often cannot see well enough to perform daily tasks like choosing a washing machine setting or safely selecting the correct oven temperature. The Low Vision Program at St. Francis Health Center helps them develop strategies and use devices to enhance their independence.

What is Low Vision?

Low vision is corrected vision that is 20/70 or worse in the person's best eye.

What Deficits Cause Low Vision?

• Several conditions can affect vision
• Brain injuries
• Central scotoma
• Congenital visual deficits
• Diabetic retinopathy
• Glaucoma
• Macular degeneration
• Stroke

Low Vision Statistics

Approximately 13.5 million Americans over 45 years old are visually impaired, and three million people in the United States are legally blind. One in four persons over the age of 65 is visually impaired. low vision affects Americans of all ages.  The St. Francis Low Vision Program offers services that address the specific needs of each age group.

How Can Low Vision Be Treated?

A person with low vision will be treated through a team approach that often will include the individual, an optometrist, an ophthalmologist, a physician, a nurse and an occupational therapist.

The St. Francis Low Vision Program is dedicated to helping persons complete their daily activities as independently as possible.  Persons served are taught strategies to adapt their environment or adjust the way they perform tasks to make them easier.

St. Francis Low Vision staff members may assist a person on managing the following daily activities:

• Clothing care
• Cooking
• Diabetes management
• Dressing
• Driving
• Eating
• Financial management
• Grocery shopping
• Home modification
• Item labeling
• Leisure activity management
• Medication Management
• Organization strategies
• Personal care
• Safety strategies
• Time telling

Assistance may be provided in the person's home or at St. Francis Rehabilitation Services. Therapists may visit the home to help adapt the environment. At St. Francis, a spacious kitchen and a furnished apartment are available for training. In addition, Easy Street, a treatment area with fit-to-scale replicas of local businesses and common community settings is available for persons to practice routine activities like pumping gas, transferring in and out of a car, shopping for groceries and conducting banking transactions.

What are some of the strategies used to enhance independence?

• Compensating for decreased vision by using the other senses
• Controlling glare
• Decreasing patterns
• Developing memory strategies
• Elimination clutter
• Increasing contras
• Magnifying items
• Using audio equipment (talking watches, book on tape)
• Using appropriate lighting

For more information or to make a referral, please call 785-295-8346. Physicians may refer persons directly to the program, or St. Francis Rehabilitation Services can assist in the referral process.

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Sabetha resident finds aid at vision clinic
By: Shana Knoblock
Sabetha Herald Reporter

A service offered by St. Francis Hospital in Topeka has shown a Sabetha resident visionary lifestyle changes.

The Low Vision Clinic, based out of St. Francis Hospital, offers occupational therapy services for people dealing with vision-related disorders, such as macular degeneration and glaucoma.

According to Jamie McNally, occupational therapist at Low Vision Clinic, 90 percent of the clinic's clients suffer from macular degeneration. Clients are generally referred to the clinic by their local optometrist.

"This service is for people whose vision problems affect their daily lives," McNally said.

Once clients are in contact with Low Vision Clinic, Dr. Nelson, Low Vision optometrist, evaluates them to determine if they could benefit from new glasses or magnifiers. He performs eye exams and then refers them for occupational therapy, if necessary.

If occupational therapy is necessary, McNally completes an analysis. She evaluates how they handle various basic tasks: meal preparation, housekeeping tasks such as laundry, medicine management, financial management, transportation issues such as driving, and leisure activities.

She also evaluates whether clients are able to perform functional communication tasks such as reading, writing, telling time and accessing the telephone. Lastly, she checks whether they are able to do regular self-care tasks such as matching clothes and fixing their hair and makeup.

If McNally identifies problems in these areas due to vision, she offers suggestions and ideas to help them be more functional.

"I show them how to use hand magnifiers, stand magnifiers and closed-circuit TVs," McNally said.

If she thinks it is necessary, McNally schedules a home assessment to make sure clients are safely and efficiently using home equipment.

For example, she marks appliances with puff pain to allow clients to distinguish various appliances and places safety pins on navy pants to help distinguish them from black pants.

"Sometimes, with simple changes like changing the lighting and using magnifiers, people who weren't able to read the newspaper are able to after these changes," McNally said.

Esther Carpenter of Sabetha started with the Low Vision Clinic this past fall. The 96-year-old said she is very pleased with what the clinic offers.

"I have macular degeneration. It's not too bad yet, but it's gradually coming," she said. "I got a magnifying lamp that I can read by and a little one that I can read recipes and phone numbers."

"They are very helpful there at the clinic," Carpenter said.

McNally sees clients one time every two weeks, for a total of one to two months, depending on need.

"I try to help people become as independent as possible," she said.

Once changes have been made, the clinic provides follow-up sessions either in the clinic or at the client's home and offers further training, if necessary.

"After everything is in place, we do follow-up phone calls to make sure there are no more concerns," she said. "The program can be restarted again for people who move and need help with appliances and things like that again," she added.

Although the clinic has been around for a long time, McNally said, the clinic changed format in October 2004. Prior to that they didn't offer home assessment or added training.

The clinic's services are paid for by insurance if a need requirement is met. Clients must meet a certain low vision level, need training and have certain cognitive levels.

McNally said the clinic gets about 120 to 130 new referrals each year.

The clinic is located in the Stock Eye Clinic in the Continental Building at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka. It offers clinics every Monday from 8:30am to 2:30pm.