Sudden Blindness: Resources You Can Use

When someone you love has suffered a devastating injury and lost his or her ability to see, it is natural that you would want to find every available resource to help that loved one with his or her disability. While the disability community continues to offer new ways for the vision impaired to navigate the world, your loved one may not be familiar with these advancements. You can help your loved one adjust to and perhaps recover from his or her sudden blindness by knowing what resources are available to that individual.

 

Braille Classes and Lessons

Perhaps the most important lesson your loved one must learn is how to read Braille. Learning to read and write Braille can help that person get around public places, read newspapers, and interact well with the world around him or her. Many community colleges, night classes at high schools, and community resource centers offer classes for the blind that are designed to teach them this literary system. Before your friend or relative utilizes any other resource, he or she may be encouraged to enroll in one of these classes.

 

Seeing Eye Dog

Getting around his or her home, as well as the community safely should also be a top priority. If your friend is not offered one immediately after the accident or sickness that caused this person’s blindness, you may check into how your loved one can get a seeing eye dog. These dogs are renowned for their ability to help blind people navigate the world around them. Many insurance providers cover the costs of having a seeing eye dog in a person’s home. You may help out your loved one by checking to see if his or her insurance would pay for this resource.

 

Home Organization

After your friend or relative loses his or her sight, it can be vital that the person’s home is rearranged in safe manner. If the home is not organized safely, that individual could fall down and get hurt in his or her own home. With your friend or relative present, you can help rearrange furniture, shelves, rugs, and other home fixtures in a manner that prevents that person from getting hurt or falling. As you rearrange the house, you should tell your loved one what you are doing and where things are being placed. After this task is done, you can then help your friend or relative learn the layout of the home.

 

Retain an Attorney

If your loved one’s blindness was caused by an accident or sickness that could have been prevented, he or she may benefit by hiring a lawyer. With a lawyer on retainer, your loved one can explore what legal remedies are available and find out if he or she has cause to file a lawsuit. This legal action could help that individual recoup monetary losses from not being able to work, as well as funds to pay his or her medical expenses. Having an attorney by your loved one’s side can ensure that person’s future is protected.

 

When a friend or relative loses his or her ability to see after an injury or sickness, you may wonder what you can do to help that loved one adjust to this new disability. Knowing the resources that are available can allow your loved one to adapt to his or her blindness and live a productive life in spite of it.

 

Melanie Fleury has had to wear corrective lenses since she was 12 years old and knows how valuable sight is. If your loved one’s sight has been affected due to the negligence of another person, Powers McCartan PLLC at http://www.powmac.com/  can help to determine if you have a case and then begin the process to get the compensation your loved one deserves.

Categories: blindness, Braille, resources

Corporate Wellness Begins with Culture and Resources

If you believe you have the resources to conduct wellness lifestyle behaviours throughout the workday, you will be more likely to actually participate in such behaviours. This is according to an April 2013 survey by The Ohio State University, who noted that thoughts of healthy behaviours shouldn’t stop when the workday starts, even though typical workday activities such as answering emails, attending meetings and completing administrative work aren’t necessarily conducive to your wellbeing.

In a similar survey, respondents from more than 90 universities and colleges indicated that they would feel more likely participating in on-campus wellness activities if they had ‘flexibility in work schedules, a culture that encourages wellness, good communication about available programs and activities, leaders/administrators being fully engaged and supporting wellness, convenient locations and improved access to wellness resources and incentives.’

According to Bernadette Melnyk, Ohio State’s chief wellness officer and dean of the College of Nursing, ‘You’ve got to build a culture and environment that makes it easy and fun for people to engage in wellness activities. So, building a culture and environment of wellness in addition to making wellness activities freely available throughout the system and working with individuals on behaviour change is super important.’

Melnyk added that general healthy behaviours can help to improve the corporate wellness of a company, as well as the individual: ‘Evidence from studies has shown that when people have higher levels of wellness, they are more happy, engaged and productive and have fewer chronic illnesses, which means they miss less work and cost less in terms of health care claims. There is an economic incentive to keep staff and faculty healthy, but it’s also simply the right thing to do as an employer.’

However, the survey results show that there are still obstacles to overcome, such as rigid work schedules and lack of leadership support. As a result, the administration at Ohio State has created the One University Health & Wellness Council to unify health initiatives across the university, in order to coordinate leadership. Melynk said that she receives a lot of correspondence from businesses and universities throughout the country asking her what they should do to implement their own healthy policies.

Corporate Wellness Begins with Culture and Resources

Categories: culture, Research, resources