National eye screening effort and new center on vision and aging

Aging, June-July, 1985

Although blindness and serious visual impairments are highly concentratfed in the over-65 population, affecting one million older people, The New York Lighthouse has estimated that 50 percent of all blindness in the elderly could be prevented with proper care and regular medical eye examinations.

According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), the four leading causes of blindness in the elderly are cataracts; glaucoma; macular degeneration (also knwon as aging-related maculopathy), caused by deterioration of the central area of the retina; and diabetic retinopathy, common in diabetics and caused by damage to blood vessels in the retina. Dr. Constance Atwell of NEI notes that cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and the most serious form of macular degeneration, (the one most likely to cause blindness) are treatable.

The New York Lighthouse, an association for the blind established in 1905, has estimated that 75 percent of all people will develop cataracts at some point in their lives but that only 15 percent will be impaired by them. According to the Lighthouse, macular degeneration will affect approximately 2 percent of those 52 to 64, 11 percent of those 65 to 74, and 28 percent of those 75 to 84.

One of the organizations that has set up a national program to help insure proper vision screening of older people is the American Optometric Association. Optometrists throughout the U.S. are volunteering their time to screen adults 55 and older to identify and refer for further care people who show symptoms of eye/vision problems or of other health problems that can be detected through an eye exam.

Called the Older Adult Eye Health Education and Screening Program, the volunteer effort has resulted in the screening of 64,000 older Americans and has received awards from the Administration on Aging, the American Public Health Association and the National Council on the Aging.

Implementaiton of the screening program is usually directed by the Optometric Association in each state, in coordination with local optometric groups and senior citizen centers and organizations. For further information about setting up an eye/vision screening program in your area or about undergoing screening, contact your State Optometric Association.

Another recent development relating to visual problems and the elderly was the announcement by The New York Lighthouse of the establishment of a new National Center for Vision and Aging. The Center will promote the interests and the rehabilitation of visually impaired older people and will become a national clearinghouse for information on vision care for the aging, disseminating its findings through community education and professional training.

One of the Center's areas of concentration will be increasing awareness of employee vision problems in the corporate sector. The Center staff will work with medical, pre-retirement and employee assistance personnel to provide education to workers on eye problems and arrange referrals to low-vision clinical services and other programs that can help vision-impaired people to retain their jobs.

Arlene Gordon, Director of the National Center for Vision and Aging and Associate Executive Director of The New York Lighthouse, recently commented that the new Center was a natural outgrowth of a special project on vision and aging that the Lighthouse conducted last year under a grant from the Administration on Aging. Ms. Gordon said the project, which operated in five communities across the country, "made us see an enormous need for vision care advocacy among older Americans from age 45, but particularly people over 65."

Called "A Better View of You," the project provided education on eye problems to older people and encouraged partnerships between vision care clinicians and professionals in the aging network in targeting local treatment services to the vision-impaired elderly. A community guide on replicating the project is expected to be available in December of 1985.

For further information about the community guide or the National Center on Vision and Aging, contact Ms. Connie Cohn, The New York Lighthouse, 111 East 59th St., New York, N.Y. 10022. (212) 355-2200.

Another resource useful to agencies serving the elderly is a new film released by the American Foundation for the Blind, entitled "Aging and Vision Loss: Declarations of Independence." The film, which has been reviewed by the Administration on Aging, tells the story of five older people with total or partial loss of vision. It is a very powerful movie about fears and determination, about family and friends, about attitudes and prejudice--but mostly about being and remaining independent. The overriding theme or message of the film is just because I am old and blind, it does not mean I am useless. I can do for myself.

According to the American Foundation for the Blind, the value of the film would be enhanced if a showing of the film were accompanied by a program about rehabilitation and other services designed to help overcome the handicaps of vision loss. The American Foundation for the Blind's staff can provide such attendant programs. Requests for programs are coordinated by Ms. Jamie Casabianca, AFB National Consultant on Aging, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011, (212) 620-2053.