patients through a series of treatments , rather than writing a prescription and sending them on their way .
He gave examples of the impacts he ' s seen on patients in school , life , sport and art , adding it provides a high level of job satisfaction for the eyecare professional , as well as a demonstration of quality of care for the patient and their family .
eSight ' s low-vision glasses continue to impact the lives of patients with issues such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy .
“ It ' s being driven by the fact that with every passing year our population is getting older and with the diabetes epidemic , it ' s becoming much more prevalent ,” says eSight ' s Taylor West .
“ At eSight , those are two diseases we ' ve had a lot of success with . Those are low vision conditions where we ' ve been able restore people to pretty much near-normal low level vision .”
In 2017 , the company is looking to get even closer to that low vision community , including clients and non-profits and government agencies that work to support those individuals .
eSight continues to work with its patients to build on the software and hardware that benefit its users across North America , and soon to be Europe and other markets .
“ Across Canada , there ' s a huge emphasis on innovation in the medical sector ,” says West . “ That applies to hospital care , that applies to primary care , but it also applies to medical devices like eSight . We can start to look more critically on not only how the technology has changed , but can we have higher expectations for what we can provide to that individual .”
Dr . Charles Boulet ’ s was happy to talk about the complexity of vision , brain injury and perception , and how children often struggle without some fairly straightforward intervention .
Describing ‘ developmental optometry ,’ Boulet noted a University of Waterloo research paper that provided some notably strong support for the link between visual function and learning .
Boulet says more common obstacles to classroom learning and full childhood development include amblyopia , hyperopia , astigmatism , convergence insufficiency and so-called ‘ tracking ’ problems .
“ Contrary to popular myth , these can all be treated at any age ,” he says .
“ Developmental optometrists also manage strabismus ,
where eyes are improperly aligned . Using optical and behavioural techniques , eye alignment can often surpass surgical results and this with superior motor control and less risk .”
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR ' S ICARE AWARD
NOMINATE A MANITOBA EYECARE PROFESSIONAL
In conjunction with CNIB Manitoba , the Lieutenant-Governor ' s iCARE Award is presented annually in late spring to recognize a Manitoba eye-care professional who demonstrates innovative and / or unique contributions to eye health in Manitoba , who works within their associate body , and who has made significant contributions to the community at large .
Deadline for nominations is April 15 , 2017 For more information or to obtain the nomination forms go to www . cnib . ca or call ( 204 ) 789-0951