Please Help Me, I'm Falling!

by Joe Fontenot MD, CLVT and Marie Cafferty LPTA, SARPC (Reprinted with permission from “The Magnifier”, a publication of MD Foundation.) Common sense, as well as the Mr. McGoo cartoons, tells us that poor vision makes it more likely to fall. Medical studies bear this out. Falls are serious and frequent events. According to a [Read More]

Talking Books Service Has Gone Mobile

Talking Books is a service of the National Library Service (NLS), Library of Congress. People who are certified as legally blind, or otherwise unable to comfortably read print, may access over 50,000 titles in audio format at no cost. Until now, participants have been sent audio materials on tape, playable on special machines provided by [Read More]

Support Groups Can Improve Quality of Life

by Dan Roberts Researchers have found that facilitated patient support groups can significantly improve visual quality of life (VQoL) for visually impaired people. Twenty-nine groups of up to six patients each were recruited for participation in a “peer group emotional support service” facilitated by trained counselors for a period of six months. Their responses to [Read More]

Doctors Don’t Like Talking to Patients

An editorial by Frank J. Weinstock, M.D., F.A.C.S. Reprinted with permission from Opthalmology Management (May 1999)      If you’re frustrated by your doctor’s lack of social skills, you’re not alone. It’s a problem common enough that doctors themselves sometimes have to remind one another of the importance of good communication with their patients. Here is an editorial [Read More]