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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1987)
Organization helps people adjust to vision loss By Sean Nelson CM I He FimtiM Carleton Wood, a participant in the Cottage Grove chapter of Vision Northwest, is almost completely visually impaired. But through his involvement in Vision Northwest, a non profit organization created for the purpose of providing infor mation and support services to the blind, he realizes he is not alone "I vp been happy just to tie around other blind people." Wood said. Wood, who is the owner of the Lucky l-ogger Inn in Spr ingfield. was in Salem Hospital a year ago having his leg am putated when he liegati to lose his sight "At the time I just kept thinking it (his sight) would come Iwck." Wood said Wood had lost his sight once before when he was being treated in a hospital for a gangrenoous foot and leg However he regained his vision and never did find out what caused the initial vision loss "I’ve come to realize I will always be blind. I am just star ting to learn to live with it." Wood said, "The amputation of a leg is one thing, but blindness is a thousand limes worse." Wood's blindness was caused by a condition called diabetic retinopathy, which is a degenerative eye disease trig gered by diabetes. I balletic retinopathy affects the nutrients going to the retina, which is the organ responsible for the perception of colors and sight. The disease causes the retina to VOLVO Owners A^n^^^ort / /Service^ Offers a FREE Safety Inspection Springfield • l?th & Mom • ’.'t. f/u VOJL YOc^>f urta/i s f degenerate until the |>erson is partially or totally blind Wood only can see silhouet tes. “I thank God for that.” he said. Vision Northwest, and the support of his family, has pro vided a ray of hope for Wood. At first Wood was frustrated just trying to put toothpaste on his toothbrush. "It sounds sim ple, but try it with your eyes closed sometime," Wood said. Members of the group let him in on the secret. "They put it on their finger and put it on the toothbrush.” Not knowing the time was also frustrating for Wood; however, the problem was solv ed with the help of a talking watch One of the biggest obstacles TAN 10 visits $25 an conditioned Th« look you Hi Ioi th» look thoy io*« SunShowcr on camput •USl-IKI l» u„.lan ki IMM WE BUY STEREOS STEREO WORKSHOP 1621 E 19th • 344 3212 OrMk GYROS Sandwich svurr iT t*Tm»»i2i9 amw •Ot V«lM —UOBookstore— MICROSOFT. The High Performance Software tm Educational Purchase Plan tor the Students, Faculty, and Departments of the U of O SAVE UP TO 50%! MICROSOFT Microsoft Fik> MICROSOFT EXCEL Rag 385 00 MICROSOFT FILE R*g m.00 23400 11500 MICROSOFT lor mac ■**"11S08 MICROSOFT for MAC WORD 3.0 450.00 8840 MICROSOFT lor MAC CHART 7075 Rog 125.00 f ^ • Now WORD updates • 45 MICROSOFT products available UQ SENIORS: Last chine* to buy at that* prices before graduation. tMh A Kincaid M F ? 305 30 SAT 1000-4 00 faced by a visually impaired parson is using public transpor tation, he said. Wood's wife helps him with this problem "My wife drives me wherever I go. I haven't driven since about a year ago last June," Wood can no longer par ticipate in what was one of his hobbies: fishing. However. "I'm still looking around for some hobbies," he said. Wood is active in The Lion's Club and is the chairman of the Sight and Hearing section of the club. “We help people get glasses who don't have the means," Wood said. "We (The Lion's Club) have one boy who lost his eye in an accident with a BB gun," Wood said. "We will take care of all his bills until he is 18," he added. Audrey Wood said she helps her husband, "by doing things for him that he wasn't able to do himself and being understan ding of the various emotional adjustments that he was going through " It took a long time for Wood to get over his initial grief, and he withdrew for a time. However becoming more active in the Lion's Club helped Wood to overcome his grief, Audry Wood said. The Vision Northwest meetings are held “for the pur pose of giving each other emo tional and peer support." said Darian Hartman, program coor dinator of Vision Northwest. A great need is filled when a visually impaired person learns that he or she is not alone and that there is hope in learning to deal with their predicament from others, he said. From the moment a person becomes blind, he or she must make an emotional and a physical adjustment. Each day that person will have to deal with the frustrations of being blind. The simplest tusks, such as getting a drink of water, can seem insurmountable at first. Hartman said. In order tu lead a happy and productive life, a person must adjust to his or her blindness. With the help of Vision Nor thwest a person is able to make this adjustment by learning from others who have already made the adjustment, according to a press packet released by the organization. Vision Northwest was found ed in 1985 by Dr. Robin DeVour. who became blind c 0 p 1 E S 3* All Day Every Day Mon.-Fri. 8:30 8:00pm Sal. 10-8pm Print America 519 E. 13th 485-1940 shortly before obtaining his master of arts degree in clinical psychology. ‘‘Luckily I was in something I could continue." he said. There are now chapters of the organization in most ma jor cities in Oregon. Through his own efforts to cope with blindness, DcY'our learned how to teach others to cope with total or partial vision loss. He founded the organiza tion while running a private practice in Tualitin, Ore., Hart man said. A visually impaired person must volunteer to form a group. A typical group begins with bet ween two and eight people who have recenly lost their vision, Hartman said. "Groups address topics such as where to get help learning how to cook, how- to mark items such as temperatures on ovens or settings on appliances with raised notches or dots to iden tify them and how to buy clothing." Hartman said. If tlit? group cannot teach someone, then that person is referred pro fessionals who can. Hartman said. Information such as where a person can go to learn how to walk with a cane or a guide dog. or where to go to buy cooking utensils or a talking watch can also be obtained by calling Vi sion Northwest. Hartman said. Sylvia Turner, who attends a support group in Portland, com pletely has lost her vision in her right eye and can only see silhouettes with her left eye. "If I put my hand close to my left eye I can see that I have five fingers,” Turner said. She has berm visually impaired since last July. "One day I was driving my car and my vision blurred." Turner said. The fact that her jaw also hurt was the clue that led doctors to have her hospitalized, and three days after she was hospitalized she was completely blind, she said. Turner had a condition known as temporal arthritis, which is an inflammation of the small artery leading to the eyes. The inflammation caused a lack of blood flow to the eyes caus ing the visual impairment, Turner said. After doctors treated the im pairment by giving Turner large amounts of steroids, the vision in her left eye started to come back. "We had some hope.” Turner said. However, she did Turn to Vision, Page 11 STUDENTS EARN $90 AND MORE i£JMONTH % plating gfiUi you'ra atwdying (Y«u can mat* at many aa atghl oanvlKMt* avary awfc) ti n *ata. MpanMaaJjaa NEW DONORS: $5 Bonus wtth this ad EUGENE PLASMA 04-2241 • 1071 Ollvs St.
