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Mary Jo Leary was referred to Alphapointe's Senior Adult Services by her ophthalmologist. Mary Jo has dry macular degeneration, and she was beginning to have trouble with many daily life activities. Mary Jo is very lucky that her daughter lives just across the street, but she was beginning to depend on her more and more.
Mary Jo was evaluated by an occupational therapist and then a plan was developed to teach her about adaptive equipment and techniques she can use to improve her independence. Mary Jo's lighting situation was evaluated and found to be poor around the areas where she typically tries to read. Recommendations for additional task lighting were made and Mary Jo bought an Ott-Lite floor model to sit by her easy chair and an Ott-Lite desk model to sit on her kitchen table. Mary Jo reported the lights helped tremendously, and she was even able to read some large print without glasses or magnification.
Mary Jo was trained in eccentric viewing to learn how to use the part of her vision that has not be affected by the macular degeneration to read. Mary Jo quickly learned if she looked down and to the right of a letter/word instead of directly at it she was able to see the word better. Mary Jo also uses a 5x hand-held magnifier with an LED light to read small print. Mary Jo has been able to read the newspaper, mail, medicine, and menus using her magnifier.
Mary Jo was struggling with accessing her microwave, dishwasher, and thermostat. Mary Jo was frequently guessing at the buttons and becoming frustrated. Tactile and high contrast labels were placed on each appliance. Mary Jo was then trained on how to identify the correct buttons by feel rather than trying to rely on her vision. Mary Jo states, "the labels have made things so much easier."
One task Mary Jo was relying heavily on her daughter for was finding telephone numbers. A volunteer at Alphapointe was able to make a large print phone/address book for Mary Jo that she can access without needing any magnification. This way she does not have to call her daughter first to get a phone number.
Mary Jo was very satisfied with the services she received through Alphapointe. She said she had no idea these services were available until her doctor recommended Alphapointe. She believed she was going to have to continue to rely on her daughter and just deal with the frustration her vision loss was causing.
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An Alphapointe Success Story: Mary Jo Leary
