Vision Rehabilitation Services for Referrers

The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences offers Vision Rehabilitation Services at our University Station location. We provide multidisciplinary rehabilitative services to enhance/improve visual function with adaptations, magnifiers, telescopes, electronic devices, lighting and contrast.

We provide full in office training on recommended low vision aids on site at our vision rehabilitation center. We also work closely with the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired (wcblind.org) for further community needs.

 

Pediatrics

For the pediatric population who need low vision rehabilitation, please continue to visit Vision Forward in Milwaukee (birth-onward), the Wisconsin Center for the Blind in Janesville (school-age, K-12), or similar organizations to ensure proper age-appropriate initial and subsequent guidance.

We currently do not provide pediatric-specific low vision services due to the specialized nature of students’ vocational needs and school district policies. Each school district employs a vision rehabilitation teacher who can work with your family to accommodate your child’s low vision needs.

For more information, please contact the organizations mentioned or work with your school district to receive the proper services. Our occupational therapist does offer driver’s evaluations for teenagers who are planning to pursue a driver’s license.

REFERRAL CRITERIA FOR PROVIDERS

We are looking for patients with the following:

  • Best corrected visual acuity of 20/60 or less in the better seeing eye.
  • Deteriorating or permanently damaged vision that glasses, contact lenses, surgery, or medical treatment will not improve.
  • Issues of difficulty reading, writing, distance/television viewing, shopping, recognizing faces, etc.
  • Motivated with a support system, and willing to dedicate their time and energy to learn how to expand vision function and capacity to improve quality of life.

As you consider a patient for low vision referral, we request that you factor in the patient’s outlook on realistic expectations and mood. If they are depressed or in denial, they may not be ready for a low vision evaluation. We encourage you to talk to your patients regarding Low Vision Services and that “something can be done” to help them regain some independence and perform activities that they miss.

We encourage you to refer patients in the early stages of their disease to help make the transition to low vision aids easier. As the disease progresses, we will work closely with the patient to modify the devices needed to help their functional vision. We will typically recommend multiple aids (optical and non-optical) to help them with their visual goals.

When you have a motivated candidate for a low vision evaluation, please contact Sanbrita Mondal, OD, or Linda K. Jorgensen, by the Health Link in basket system for an appointment. We will not perform pupillary dilations of these patients and will perform low vision refractions only. These examinations will take about 2 hours – including the time for training. We request that the patient have a recent dilated eye exam and a current refraction prescription on file. This will allow us to efficiently address specific visual goals with various aids, and minimize the number of visits. After the appointment has been arranged, we will mail a packet which includes information describing the examination process. The packet will also include an extensive questionnaire on activities of daily living to complete prior to the appointment. This will allow us to preemptively prepare and make better use of the clinic time to achieve patient goals, such as direction to resources for orientation and mobility training.

After the evaluation, we will send a detailed report to the referring provider regarding the patient’s progress/ outcome. We will follow-up with patients via telephone or office visits depending on the complexity of their visual needs. We will encourage all patients to continue their ophthalmic care with the appropriate provider as recommended.

We have low vision aids available through Eschenbach. However, we encourage patients to use other products on the market. We hope in the future to have an in-house low vision therapist for increased patient convenience. We look forward to working with you to help patients utilize their vision to full potential, and obtain the best care from our department.

Low Vision Education