Posts Tagged ‘Eye and Health Care’

Counseling and Psychological Services Now Being Offered at LightHouse San Francisco Headquarters

LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired announces the addition of Dr. Connie Conley-Jung, a licensed clinical psychologist and former special education teacher to our staff. Dr. Conley-Jung has over 20 years of experience serving children, adolescents and adults seeking support and assistance with a wide range of psychological, relationship, school, or employment-related issues. Her lifelong experience as a visually impaired person, in addition to her professional experience in educational and community nonprofit settings, enables Dr. Conley-Jung to share with all of us her extensive clinical expertise and knowledge of resources. Dr. Conley-Jung looks forward to helping LightHouse clients of all ages achieve their goals and sustain an improved quality of life and overall wellbeing.

Dr. Conley-Jung accepts private insurance, Medicare, Alameda County Medi-Cal, UnitedHealthCare Military and Veterans (formerly TriCare), Victims of Crime, private pay, and Department of Rehabilitation referrals.

For more information or to make an appointment, please contact Dr. Conley-Jung at 415-694-7307 or cjung@lighthouse-sf.org.

The Counseling and Psychological Services program at the LightHouse can help to:

• support healthy adjustment to blindness and visual impairment across the lifespan
• encourage greater social participation within and outside the blindness/visually impaired community
• remove potential barriers to academic success, gainful employment and job retention
• promote a healthier, more active lifestyle
• expand and strengthen social, professional and familial support systems
• improve self-esteem and confidence.

Clinical Services may include:

• Periodic and ongoing workshops and support groups to address specific aspects of mental health and wellbeing
• Individual peer counseling and psychotherapy
• Life coaching for developmental life cycle transitions and adjustments
• Resource referrals to internal and external community services and organizations
• Assistance with navigating different and oftentimes multiple service systems (medical, financial, educational, occupational, human services, etc.)

Walmart Now Offers ScripTalk Talking Prescription Containers

Walmart now offers ScripTalk Talking Prescription Containers with prescriptions filled by Walmart to mail order customers across the country and at 33 in-store locations. For more information, including how to order by phone from anywhere in the U.S. and a list of in-store locations, please click here.

Want to order right now? Call Walmart toll free at 1-888-227-3403.

Free Eye Exam for Students

The Low Vision Clinic at California School for the Blind in Fremont is having an Eye Health examination day on Wednesday, April 17^, open to all students. Optometry doctors, residents, and interns from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry will be examining students.

Please note: This clinic is for students who cannot benefit from a Low Vision exam. Typically these students have light perception or no light perception.  The examination will include evaluating the health of students’ eyes, sockets, and polishing prostheses if needed. Each appointment will last for approximately 30 minutes.

There is no fee for this examination, and it is expected to be popular, so you’ll want to apply right away. For application paperwork or questions, contact Stephanie Herlich, Coordinator, Low Vision Services at California School for the Blind, 510-794-3800 x228, 510-794-3813 (fax).

New Look and Feel for Adaptations Blindness Products Store

What does it take to make a good thing even better? Some rethinking – what we used to call thinking out of the box. In this case we’re talking about our store, Adaptations – often the first place people go when they’ve begun to experience low vision. We’ve added new and exciting inventory and made the store more inviting, comfortable and accessible. Come see for yourself!

The Store is Easier to Shop In
We’ve made changes to the store’s physical space. We’ve moved furniture out of the way to make more room for comfortable and independent shopping, especially for those in wheelchairs. There are additional products arranged on our walls so that customers can see and touch them more easily. In addition, we’ve moved the registers to the right as you walk in, again to open up the space up for wheelchairs.

The Store is More Fun to Shop In and We Carry More Fun Things
We’re now carrying cool electronics such as the iClarity Micro Bluetooth Speaker and the PenFriend; musical instruments for all ages such as acoustic guitar packages by Takamine and Fender and the Casio 61-key Keyboard with VoicePad; and products for our four-legged friends such as 48-ounce Collapsible Port-a-Bowls.

And you can now demo Apple TV – we’ve hung a 32-inch flat screen TV to demonstrate Apple TV works. We’re streaming iTunes and YouTube videos, iPhone and VoiceOver demonstrations, tutorials, concerts, nature programs, etc.

Apple Products Available
We’re proud to announce that Adaptations has become an authorized seller of certain Apple products, including the iPod Nano and the new Shuffle with Voiceover. Our outstanding store staff will demo them with you in our less overwhelming, more supportive and experiential environment, so that you can make a more informed decision about what will work for you.

Onsite Store-Only Items
In wanting to pass along the greatest savings to our customers, as well as keep our products relevant, varied and exciting, we are purchasing items that are either limited in quantity and/or are temporarily offered at a significant savings and making them available to you. So, like Trader Joe’s, once these items are gone, they’re gone.

LightHouse T-Shirts and More
Show your support for the LightHouse with by purchasing one of our LightHouse products. We are offering a whole range of items from stainless steel water bottles and coffee tumblers to embroidered hoodie sweatshirts and tees, to reusable nylon grocery bags and doggie poop bag dispensers for our dog guide owners. Don’t miss your opportunity to wear the LightHouse proudly!

The Adaptations store is located at LightHouse San Francisco Headquarters. Hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and every third Saturday of the month from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You can reach our friendly store staff at our toll-free number, 1-888-400-8933.

Telephone Survey on Medi-Cal

Are you a person living with a disability in California? Do you have Medi-Cal and not Medicare? Did you switch from regular Medi-Cal to a Medi-Cal Health Plan in the last 12 months? If you fit these criteria, researchers from UC Berkeley would like to interview you.

The interview is about your experiences with the changes in Medi-Cal and with your new Medi-Cal Health Plan. The interview will take up to one hour of your time. After you complete the interview, we will send you a $30 gift card to Target.

To see if you are eligible or to learn more about the study please call 1-800-509-8710 or email howsyourcare@berkeley.edu. Please provide your name, phone number and a good time to reach you. Participation in this survey is completely confidential. Your choice to participate will not affect your Medi-Cal benefits in any way.

How to Order Walmart Talking Prescription Containers

On June 8, Walmart announced that it is now providing ScripTalk Talking Prescription Containers free of charge to persons with visual impairments as part of a pilot program. The ScripTalk Talking Prescription program is being offered to customers across the country through Walmart mail order, and also at three Walmart stores.

Information you need to order Talking Prescription Containers from Walmart
To listen to the talking label provided by Walmart, you will need to first get a reading device from Envision America, the company that makes ScripTalk. The device is called the ScripTalk reader (or the ScripTalk machine) and is available free of charge to Walmart customers who are blind. You only need to order the device once: it will work with the Talking Prescription labels you receive repeatedly from Walmart. Contact En-Vision America at 800-890-1180 to order your free ScripTalk talking prescription  reader. Envision America will also be able to answer many questions regarding insurance coverage and costs and discounts for Walmart prescriptions.

After you talk to Envision America, you will need to call Walmart to order your prescription medication. The phone number for the Walmart Mail Order pharmacy is 1-800-273-3455 (1-800-2-REFILL). When you order your prescription tell them you want the Talking Prescription label (also known as the ScripTalk label). There is no extra charge for the label.

For those in the states of Alabama, Mississippi or Colorado, Walmart is currently also offering the Talking Prescription labels in the following three stores. As with mail order, you will need to contact both the Walmart store (for the prescription medication) and Envision America (for the ScripTalk reader (also called the ScripTalk machine)).

*214 Haynes St., Talladega, AL 35160 (256) 761-1681
*2270 W. Main St., Tupelo, MS 38801 (662) 844-4011
*601 Englewood Pkwy., Englewood, CO 80110 (303) 789-7209

If you have feedback about the Walmart Talking Prescription Container pilot, please write to the Law Office of Lainey Feingold at prescription.access@gdblegal.com or call 1-800-822-5000, the number for Linda Dardarian of the Oakland civil rights firm Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen and Dardarian.

Walmart Mail Order Pharmacy Now Offers ScripTalk Talking Prescriptions

Walmart Mail Order Pharmacy is currently doing a pilot program with En-Vision America to offer ScripTalk Talking Prescriptions, which can be read with a small device called a ScripTalk Station.

The ScripTalk Station provides those who cannot read print a safe and easy way to access the information on their prescriptions. Simply press a button and place the special Talking Label over the reader. A pleasant, natural sounding voice speaks all the information printed on the label.

When you sign-up for the Walmart program, you’ll get a free ScripTalk reader and be able to take advantage of the low prices of Walmart Mail Service. Many private insurance companies and state Medicaid services will cover Walmart Mail Order.

For more information on how to enroll in this program and to get your free ScripTalk Station reader, please contact En-Vision America at 800-890-1180.

Study Seeks Adults with Stargardt’s Disease

Individuals who are at least 18 years old and have Stargardt’s Disease are invited to participate in a study by Jennifer Bryan in the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston. The study is designed to gain insight into the life experience of those with Stargardt’s, one of the most common forms of juvenile macular degeneration.

This project involves completing three questionnaire packets and three brief writing sessions.　The packets will take approximately 60 minutes each to complete. After completing the survey at home, participants will receive their topic for writing. There will be two follow-up surveys three and six weeks after the final writing session. Upon full completion of the study, participants will be entered in a lottery for a prize basket.

If you meet the qualifications and would like to participate, please click the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PHFTSLL.

This project has been reviewed by the University of Houston Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects, which can be reached at 713-743-9204.

Exciting Update on Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder Studies

As many of you know, Vanda has been conducting research on a sleep problem related to total blindness called Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder. They have received many questions asking for information about how the study is progressing and if it is working. They are pleased to be able to share the following information from the screening stage of the study that you may find interesting.

• The drug Tasimelteon was shown for the first time to reset the body clock and to align it to a constant 24-hour day in patients suffering from Non-24-hour
• Over 1,000 totally blind NLP (no light perception) individuals have taken the Vanda sleep survey
• Over 75% report a sleep problem
• 70% of those screened in the Vanda’s main clinical study have a confirmed diagnosis of Non-24-Hour
• Over half of patients in the study have a sleepless night once per month
• Vanda’s main study is close to the target 100 patients but still needs additional participants
• Vanda has donated over $30,000 to blind related non-profits

For more information on Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder, go to http://24sleepwake.com/. To take the survey, call 888-389-7033, visit www.non24registry.com or email info@non24registry.com.

LightHouse of the North Coast Hosts Free Six-Week Workshop Series

Join us as Our Pathways to Health presents a series of free health and wellness workshops for Low Vision and Blind Consumers

This peer-led series of workshops addresses the common challenges faced by those living with long-term health conditions like diabetes, high blood Pressure, arthritis, COPD or chronic pain.

Learn how to:

• Set small goals that lead to big transformations
• Lose weight, exercise more, eat healthier
• Find the motivation to tackle large goals

Learn action planning:

• Set small, achievable goals
• Build on success in a supportive environment

When: Tuesdays, April 3 through May 8th, 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Humboldt Senior Resource Center
1910 California Street, Eureka, CA 95501

Space is limited.
Contact Janet Pomerantz at 707-268-5646 for more information and reservations.
Caregivers are welcome to attend with workshop participants.