The Pennsylvania AHEC Program, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation,Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, has been providing training to health professionals to advance their knowledge and skills in managing senior patients experiencing the loss of vision. Our goal is to provide information to assist health professionals in responding to the health care needs, as well as, improve the quality of life for the visually impaired senior citizens of the Commonwealth.
Through continuing education programs and in-office trainings, health professionals and staff are being introduced to the variety of assistive devices that are available to aid visually impaired seniors in their daily lives to increase understanding of the impact the tools will have on improving their patient’s quality of life and their ability to remain in their homes for a longer period of time. Information is also provided to link health professionals with existing community, local and state organizations for the visually impaired.
Southwest PA AHEC is providing the following inventory of low vision resources as a resource for health professionals and staff:
Referrals:
Health professionals and staff are encouraged to refer their visually impaired senior patients to a local PA Department of Labor and Industry, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services (BBVS) representative. This can be done in two ways:
or Download fax form Download ReferralFormSW
Other resources:
Download LowVisionSpecialistsinSWPA
Download TheLowVisionFriendlyOffice
Download HandoutStatisticSheet
