What Will a COA Low Vision Rehabilitation Section Do?
-Gary Asano, O.D.,F.A.A.O.
We are pleased to announce that at the COA House of Delegates, in January, that a unanimous vote of a Bylaws Amendment created the Low Vision Rehabilitation Section. About 2.5 years of groundwork went in to getting this initial OD section as part of the COA , and the support of SBOS and many other societies made this a reality.
Our mission for the Low Vision Rehabilitation Section is to promote sub-specialty care among optometrists through education and to publicize that we provide services that help patients improve their functional vision and adapt their abilities so as to be able to perform daily activities.
Optometry has a very real opportunity to present our true capabilities to the rehabilitation community, especially physiatrists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech therapists. Many of our patients can benefit from low vision care, the list including those with strokes, diabetics, glaucoma, traumatic brain injury, and retinal disease. The field is expanding with new technology and therapy options to enable to better serve our patients. We need a forward-looking Low Vision Section to represent us in California.
There was a VA study in 2008, published in Archives of Ophthalmology that Focused on early low vision intervention. The study pointed out that the outcomes were much better when early referral of the 20/40-20/70 patients, than waiting until the patient was 20/200. A Medicare Demonstration Act that has been ongoing since 2006, is ongoing in 5 states, testing for efficacy of coverage of low vision intervention and rehabilitation. The Veteran’s Administration, in late 2007, started on a program to open 47 sites with a staff LV-subspecialty OD and other rehabilitation professionals. Kaiser Permanente is offering a number of plans that have some low vision aid coverage.
It is foreseeable that with a proactive Section, that referrals for low vision rehabilitation will be considered as part of the mainstream. We need to look at how we view patients with ocular diseases the need for proper care and advice before changes become so adverse that a feeling of helplessness ensues. We currently have 63 COA members who would like to join the Low Vision Rehabilitation Section; this is an astounding start, and soon should reach 100. We expect that this COA Section will become a real presence in our profession.
A major low vision educational symposium is being planned for July 25-26th at the new College of Optometry at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona. If you would like to join the COA section, or would like more information on this program, contact Gary Asano, O.D. at g.asano@verizon.net.