This month is Low Vision Awareness Month and Castle Country Radio sat down with a representative from Active Re-entry to discuss their Low Vision services. They are a great resource for individuals who have little to no vision difficulties.

Low vision or vision loss affects many people and can be a frustrating transition. It can affect all ages but you see it more in the senior population and it can become hard to accept and adapt to. “Vision impairment really impacts people’s lives, it makes it difficult for them to do the most basic of daily tasks that we all take for granted, such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, and paying their bills. So we’re grateful that we have programs here at Active Re-entry, in addition to programs that we coordinate with that we can utilize to help serve individuals, who are experiencing vision loss or they’ve completely started through the process of visual impairment,” said Director, Terri Yelonek. The Low Vision Program provides education in adaptive techniques and also offers a support group.

The help is not only offered at the facility but they offer in-home assistance. For example they can come help an individual with their monthly bills or put bump dots on their appliances to know where to turn them on or off. “We also have what we call a low vision clinic, we do that on a quarterly basis here. That’s in conjunction with the Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, so DSBVI is what we refer to that as.  They’ll come from Salt Lake and help individuals try different devices to see if there are devices out there that would improve their vision loss, so their vision impairment,” explained Yelonek. They also can help with cane training as the facilitators are well qualified at Active Re-entry.

The first step for someone who has an impairment is to reach out to Active Re-entry. “Connecting with our agency and attending the Low Vision Support Group with others who are experiencing the same types of things. They get peer support there, they’re taught skills there, independent living skills. They also go out on activities, and social building types of events. So that’s a really good place to start,” said Yelonek. Monthly meetings are held to provide education and support to individuals who are losing or have lost their vision. Door to Door transportation is available for this group on an as-needed basis. Meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month.

To learn more about the Low Vision Program you can visit the Active Re-entry websitate at https://www.arecil.org/ or call them at (43) 637-4950. You can also stop by their building at 10 South Fairgrounds Road.