PHOENIX - Thanks to a cadre of programs and a team approach, the Phoenix VA Health Care System is improving the lives of veterans who have lost sight due to injuries sustained in combat or those who are losing their eyesight slowly due to disease.
"The VA's philosophy is that, if you have some eyesight, let's figure out a way to maximize it," says Tom Hicks, Vision Impairment Services Team (VIST) Coordinator at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix.
Hicks, himself a veteran of the U.S. Army, knows first-hand what patients go through in adjusting to blindness. The 42-year-old Hicks lost his eyesight 11 years ago after serving as a paratrooper and taking knocks to the head from parachute jumps and playing football. He found he was predisposed to a hereditary disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which causes the retina to deteriorate, and that the blows he'd experienced aggravated the condition. Now, he helps other veterans cope with their vision loss and learn skills to overcome the associated challenges.
"Our goal is to improve safety, independence and quality of life," he says.
To that end, the VA Medical Center in Phoenix starts with a team approach that includes primary care, social work, audiology and other services. Hicks coordinates the team and helps visually impaired veterans get on track to rehabilitation and greater independence.
The programs also includes outpatient rehabilitation services in veterans' homes, a world-class inpatient rehab center and a variety of high-tech gadgets ranging from "talking pill bottles "to personal global-positioning devices that help them navigate in the community. It's all designed to help veterans live life to the fullest even with the loss of sight.
Many of the veterans Hicks works with spend several weeks at the Southwestern Blind Rehabilitation Center, which provides programs for visually impaired veterans from seven western states. Located in Tucson, the center teaches veterans skills to make the most of what vision they have; improve their orientation and mobility; adapt their daily living routines so they can continue to take care of themselves, their homes and finances; and develop manual skills through arts and crafts, such as woodworking, to improve dexterity and help them utilize their remaining vision.
After inpatient rehabilitation, the VIST program's job is just beginning. The patient returns to their hometown and more work is done, including home assessments, more training or whatever else they might need.
Hicks says soldiers who have lost eyesight due to combat injuries sometimes return home after initial treatment "with a lot of cool tools," but don't know how to use them to regain their confidence and independence. The VIST team steps in to assist.
The largest portion of the nearly 50,000 veterans nationwide who are visually impaired, are those age 55 and older, who are losing their eyesight due to diseases like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
"The hardest thing to do sometimes is to support the veteran after the loss and reinforce what they've learned, says Hicks. "When people go blind, they tend to stop doing things they used to do. But the return on investment in both the inpatient and outpatient programs is huge, because you keep older veterans out of nursing homes, and you help people regain their confidence and self-esteem. It's really a wellness approach that helps veterans and their families."
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MEDIA NOTE: Interviews are available with VA patients who are visually impaired, as well as VA Medical Center staff. Contact Paula Pedene, APR, Public Affairs Officer, to coordinate an interview.
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