Vision rehabilitation provides hope and support

The staff of Battle Creek VA Medical Center’s Blind and Low Vision Rehabilitation service are actively engaged each day with local Veterans, to include Michigan, Indiana and parts of Ohio, to help them navigate life to better live independently through vision enhancing devices, technological tools, and other related training.

“Our clinic offers blind and low vision rehabilitation to Veterans who have reduced vision, enabling them to better live their life without vision,” said Kimberley Lambe, Battle Creek VA Medical Center Blind Rehabilitation Specialist (Orientation & Mobility). “That comes with everything from their activities of daily living, cooking, medication management, accessing computers and smartphones, using low vision equipment, and how to move from ‘Point A to Point B’ safely.”

The first Veterans Affairs Blind and Low Vision Clinic opened at Hines VA Medical Center in Hines, Illinois. Nationally, Veterans Affairs now has 13 blind rehabilitation centers, approximately 165 Visual Impairment Services Team Coordinators, 93 Blind Rehabilitation Outpatient Specialists, 53 Intermediate, Advanced, and VISOR clinics/programs, and approximately 575 staff across the U.S. The increase reflects trying to provide this service to Veterans on a wider level and address this health concern earlier.

“Timing is really important because if someone gets a diagnosis and are told there is nothing that can be done for their vision, they believe that, and if they don’t do anything with that for an extended period of time their life has become so small and their opportunity to become successful is reduced,” said Lambe. “This really makes referral time very important.”

An added benefit of VA Healthcare is the communication with optometrists and ophthalmologists who can reach out to the Blind and Low Vision Rehabilitation Service and make the direct connection to help Veterans as soon as possible.

U.S. Navy Veteran Ed Howland has lost nearly all vision due to diabetic retinopathy which had been not diagnosed until later in life. Since then, he has had to move in with his 94yo mother, who is now unable to assist with Howland’s daily activities and mobility.

“Because of her health, I need to learn how to be much more independent than what I was previously and rely less on her for things like reading my mail and preparing food,” said Howland. “This has been so important to me as I gain more orientation, mobility, training in technology for screen readers and smartphone, and doing other daily activities around the house.”

Battle Creek VA Medical Center is also helping Howland with extended in-patient training at the facility to better strengthen his mobility, which is just one of many modalities within the service being offered. Additionally, the Blind and Low Vision Service helps Veterans with;

• Orientation and mobility training and accessible GPS systems that gives auditory output of street names and points of interest.
• Magnification devices for near, distance and intermediate tasks
• iOS has opened a whole new world for those that are visually impaired. The built in accessibility allows them to not only communicatee through phone, text, email and social media but also provides an accessible calendar, clock, timer, alarms, money identifier, document reader, digital recorder, transportation apps, grocery delivery, audiobooks, sighted assistance, barcode scanner and A.I. will continue to bridge the gap in ways we never thought possible. 
• Activities of Daily Living strategies for kitchen skills, medication management, communication, and home management

“This is extremely helpful and improving to my situation in just my short period of time,” said Howland. “My progressive goal is to be as functionally independent as possible given my various conditions in addition to my blindness and mobility challenges, and so far, this is the best training I’ve had in comparison to other training I’ve received.”

There are many various conditions that can affect a Veterans vision and do so at different levels. The condition can also develop other complications for a patient as they may be experiencing other health concerns related to the aging process.

“We base all their training on their individual goals, so when we first meet, we talk about those and then we see them achieving those goals,” said Lambe. “We are such visual creatures, and we use our vision for everything, so when we lose that vision the world can become very small and life becomes a bunch of ‘I can’t do this or I can’t do that anymore’, and the whole point of rehabilitation is that they can, they just have to do it in a new way.”

Last fiscal year, Battle Creek VA Medical center saw 681 new Veterans in their Blind and Low Vision clinic and provided 3960 training sessions. So far in fiscal year 2024 they have gained 509 new Veterans and estimate surpassing 4,000 training sessions.

Because of the loss of vision, coupled with other age-related challenges, many veterans begin to experience isolation and lack of social engagement they once were able to participate in. The result can have a psychological effect that can present anxiety and depression. To help curb these outcomes, the clinic also works to provide a Whole Health class once a month, a self-defense course, a monthly support group, and sports outings that include bowling, fishing and golf.

“We here in the VISOR clinic is that we believe recreational opportunities are really important because they offer opportunities for Veterans to get together and be with other people that have visual impairments,” said Lambe.

Lambe, along with the rest of the staff within the Blind and Low Vision Rehabilitation Service know that that when Veterans have their first appointment with the clinic that they will most likely receive some very hard news, and make it their mission to turn that into an opportunity as to what they can still be capable of going forward and make that vision possible.

“I think it’s really incredible to be a part of someone’s journey where they come to us with trust, vulnerability, trying things that are very much out of their comfort zone, feeling very limited, then to watching them grow and develop skills and be able to do things they didn’t were possible is just a wonderful thing to be a part of,” said Lambe.