Agency adds vision-training program

An occupational therapist (left) helps a patient with a vision training exercise. CareSouth, a home health agency, has recently partnered with Low Vision Works, a program that helps its patients improve their vision through vision training and retraining.

A home health care business has rolled out a new program to help improve the vision of its patients in the Triad.

CareSouth provides skilled nursing, physical, speech and occupational therapy, certified home health aide, social work, registered dietician and other services in North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas and Georgia, the state where CareSouth was founded in 1995. They have been in Davidson County since 1999.

The agency recently identified a program called Low Vision Works that uses "a combination of compensatory training (treating the consequences that have caused the vision loss) and remedial training (vision retraining) to retrain the patient to see with the good vision that they have left," Diana Porter, director of integrated marketing and communications for CareSouth, wrote in an email.

The Low Vision Works program has worked in several other markets and proved successful enough for CareSouth to add the program as part of its services. Patients suffering macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, stroke and other patients with brain injuries may use he service.

Low Vision Works program was started a decade ago by Michele Vandendooren, founder and president, who is also a low vision occupational therapist in Sarasota, Fla. 

Training programs typically take between six to eight weeks, however, some can take longer. Although vision retraining has been covered by Medicare and other providers for years, Low Vision Works has taken "the best of what was out there and reworked the model to assist the patient in seeing with what good vision they have left," according to Porter.

Porter added that patients can achieve between 40 and 70 percent increases in their vision, based on their prior baseline with 90 percent of patients completing the program reaching the 40 percent mark.

One of the aspects that sets the Low Vision Works program apart from others, according to Porter, is that patients don't have to leave their home to receive treatment from certified occupational therapists.

Low Vision Works is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. Those with Medicare coverage will not incur out-of-pocket expenses, according to Porter.

CareSouth has put together a marketing plan to introduce Low Vision Works to the community including ophthalmologists, retina specialists, eye care managers and community presentations to the public including senior organizations. Anyone interested in finding out more about Low Vision Works is asked to call (866) 989-0020.

Seth Stratton can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 226 or seth.stratton@the-dispatch.com.