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EYES
Continued from Page A1
Diana Stein of Joseph, moved
in.
“There were things I really
wanted to see in my lifetime,”
Jenkins said. “I wanted to see
the Inland Passage in Alaska
and the ice, to go to New York
and see the Statue of Liberty.
Now, it’s hard to just go in a
room and not know a person
by sight that you’ve known all
your life.”
Her family was immedi-
ately available to help drive
her back and forth for treat-
ments in Portland and her
son, Ted, began scouring the
Internet.
It was Ted who spotted a
potential solution.
Now, Jenkins’ response to
blindness may make her one
of the most recognizable peo-
ple in Wallowa County. The
solution that her son found
her was to buy Lt. Com-
mander Geordi La Forge’s
vision visor.
Jenkins’ new glasses are
not exactly the same as those
worn by the Star Trek char-
acter, but they can allow a
legally blind person to see
again.
They’re a technological
miracle created by a Canadian
engineer, Conrad Lewis, who
was looking for a solution to
the blindness of two of his sis-
ters who have a form of mac-
ular degeneration. He created
the eSight portable vision sys-
tem. It allows individuals
who retain even a tiny por-
tion of sight to see clearly —
as if they are looking directly
ahead of themselves.
The glasses auto-adjust to
distances or can be zoomed in
by a magnification of 24X.
“When I was trying them
on for the first time in Boise, I
was looking out an 11th story
window, and I could zoom in
and see the people in a car
on the street below,” Jenkins
recalled.
The glasses do this by
using a high-speed, high-defi-
nition camera that captures
what the user is “looking at,”
enhances that and displays it
on two Organic Light Emit-
ting Diode screens. Those dis-
December 6, 2017
Courtesy photo
The newest design for eSight glasses. The glasses can address the majority of legal blind-
ness issues. Approximately 80 percent of all blind individuals retain some sight that the
glasses can maximize.
plays can then be adjusted to
where the wearers remain-
ing vision can best read the
image.
Only about 15 percent of
the visually impaired popu-
lation, an estimated 285 mil-
lion worldwide according
to the World Health Orga-
nization, are totally blind.
Devices like eSight could
Holiday Season Garbage Schedule
For Our Valued Customers & Friends
All of us at Rahn Sanitary Services would like to take this time to express our sincere
THANK YOU
for your continued business and support!
This year our office and garbage routes will NOT be operating Christmas Day,
Monday, December 25, 2017. This will mean all Monday schedules will be picked up on Tuesday.
There will be no other changes to the rest of the week.
Our office and garbage routes WILL operate our normal collection routes on
New Years Day and the remainder of the week.
We are again, offering a one month discount if you pay for the entire 2018 calendar year.
This offer is for can service accounts only. Payments must be made by the end of January
Just a couple reminders for the upcoming year:
* If you know yo will be missing a pick-up, you must call in ahead to receive credit. *
* For those who dispose of kitty litter, please bag it up. *
* Our trucks leave the office a 5am, have cans out the night before or by 5am. *
* Office policy for can size is 32 gallons and one handle must be intact. *
* We ask that can weights do not exceed 50 lbs, as we still “throw cans” manually. *
* When calling for services after hours, please leave your name, address & phone number. *
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year
help the other 5 percent.
“They go on like a regu-
lar pair of glasses and people
know instantly if they work or
not,” said Jaime Silverberg,
advocacy manager for eSight.
The glasses have been
available worldwide for sev-
eral years, have been reported
on and studied in many
nations and have been cham-
pioned by Major General Gale
Pollock, a retired U.S. Army
major general who served as
the Deputy Surgeon General
of the United States Army and
as Chief of the Army Nurse
Corps.
Pollock has been working
with the Veterans Adminis-
tration, the Blinded Veterans
Association and the Wounded
Warrior Project to find a way
to make the devices available
to veterans.
“Major Pollock is work-
ing with us through her not-
for-profit The Overcome
Vision Loss Foundation,” said
Silverberg.
There is still no cure for the
disease Jenkins has, but treat-
ments to slow the progression
are available. She receives
those every three months.
The only obstacle remain-
ing preventing Jenkins liv-
ing a full and independent life
is the same one in the way
of every other person who
could be benefitted by the
technology.
It’s expensive. Insurance
will not pay for it. Jekins must
pay the $10,000 price tag.
Her friends have mobi-
lized to help.
Judith Rahn opened a bank
account at Community Bank
where anyone can donate for
the glasses or ongoing med-
ical treatments at the Casey
Eye Institute at OHSU to pre-
serve her remaining sight.
Tim Parks of TW Bronze
in Enterprise is donating sev-
Wallowa County Chieftain
eral bronze works to a raffle
to raise money for the glasses
and ongoing treatments.
“I’ve known her for 30
some years, and I’m a friend
of her brother, Scott Grote,”
said Tim Parks. “She’s excel-
lent, wonderful and there’s
nobody more deserving. I
really want her to make this
goal so I’m getting together
several bronze pieces so that
there can be one raffle but
three or four winners.”
The bronze pieces under
consideration are his Fennec
Fox, rabbits and other small
bronzes valued at a minimum
of $400 each. The pieces
will be available for viewing
soon and information on how
to purchase a raffle ticket is
forthcoming.
“I need Kathy to be cut-
ting my hair — and she still
does,” Parks said. “She’s just
right up on my head when she
does it now.”
Jenkins’ brother Scott
Grote, a Wallowa County
native who is now an Elvis
Impersonator in Portland, is
also planning a benefit perfor-
mance in Wallowa County.
A Canadian benefactor
will pay a third of the cost if
she can raise the remainder by
Jan. 1, 2018.
An online crowd funding
page where people can donate
toward the purchase has been
created by eSight.
“We give her the resources
to create her own story, and
we provide the platform,” said
eSight’s Silverberg. “Every
dollar donated goes directly to
her glasses. If she raises more
than the cost, she may use the
money for medical expenses
or pay it forward and help
fund someone else’s glasses.”
To donate to the eSight
crowdfunding page for Kathy
Jenkins, visit giving.esight-
eyewear.com/kathy-jenkins.
If Kathy misses the dead-
line for matching funds, her
friends intend to keep raising
funds until she has the whole
$10,000.
“It’s just day to day, now,”
Jenkins said. “I just put every-
thing in God’s hands. What
a blessing from God that
gave people the talents to be
able to build or make these
glasses.”
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