WBRC SPRING 2010 NEWSLETTER

Image of the 'Flight to Freedom' bronze sculpture that has become a symbol for the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center. The sculpture was created by WBRC alumni Michale Naranjo who created the statue and presented it to the WBRC after he completed his program.

WBRC has published the Spring 2010 Newsletter. Contents include a letter from our new director, alumni and staff news, 2009 WBRC statistics, VIST information, and save the date information for the 2010 white cane walk. WBRC mailed out nearly 400 copies of the newsletter to WBRC alumni from January 2008 to present. A PDF version of the newsletter is available by clicking HERE or on the link below.

If you are a WBRC alumni and would like news to be posted in future WBRC newsletters please send an e-mail to:

Summer.Beasley-Hoffman@va.gov



If you would like to be sent a copy of future WBRC newsletters please send an e-mail to:

Lila.Jaffray@va.gov


Newsletters will also be archived on this site and will be available for viewing via links listed under the "WBRC NEWSLETTERS" list at the bottom of this page.

CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE WBRC SPRING 2010 NEWSLETTER

PDF

BLIND REHABILIATION SERVICES CHIEF NAMED

We are pleased to announce the appointment, effective April 11, 2010, of Ms. Niki Sandlan to the position of Chief, Blind Rehabilitation Service, at VAPAHCS. Ms. Sandlan served as Acting Chief, Blind Rehabilitation Service, from November 2009. Ms. Sandlan is a 2009 Leadership Development Institute graduate and a VAPAHCS mentor. She is a University of Cincinnati alumnus and has provided blind rehabilitation since 1998. She is the former supervisor of the WBRC Visual Skills Department. Congratulations to Ms. Sandlan for her new role as Chief, Blind Rehabilitation Service.

NEW "GLASSES" BENEFIT RESEARCH

Image of a person wearing the Mobile Eye device, which are a pair of glasses with a camera above the eye, and clear angled lens with reflective coating placed over the right eye. Image care of the Mobile Eye Website.

New research methods at the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center using special glasses called The Mobile Eye™ will improve visual function, not only in injured combat troops, but also in Veterans with age-related eye disease or vision loss associated with strokes and other causes of vision loss following brain injury. Additionally, the knowledge gained should readily transfer to the benefit of both Veterans and civilians with age-related vision loss or vision loss due to stroke, falls, motor vehicle accidents, and other events causing brain injury and vision loss.

The Mobile Eye™ (Applied Sciences Laboratories, Bedford, MA) tracks and records the person’s eye movement and superimposes it on a videotaped view of the environment recording both for review and analysis. This al­lows researchers and clinicians to “see what the person is looking at” and to do sophisticated analysis about the amount of time any object was fixated on, directions of scan, and to identify how the individual manages areas of field loss.

Understanding how well the individual manages their areas of vision loss is critical to understanding how they inter­act with the world around them. This is important because it leads to a better understanding of the person’s visual functioning and the effectiveness of rehabilitation. It should also lead to more effective rehabilitation therapies.

For the Full Article Please CLICK HERE and Scroll to Page 18

To be directed to the Mobile Eye Website CLICK HERE

For a link to a video demonstrating the Mobile Eye CLICK HERE