Nov 3, 2014
ROCHESTER – The Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) is celebrating 20 years of providing low vision care to the residents of Ontario County through partnerships with Dr. Harold Ross in Geneva and the Eye Care Center in Canandaigua. Plaques commemorating these long-standing partnerships were recently presented during short ceremonies at the respective offices of each provider.
Dr. Katherine White, ABVI’s Managing Director of Low Vision Services travels with portable equipment to see patients at the Eye Care Center at 325 West Street in Canandaigua and the Flaum Eye Institute’s Finger Lakes Center at 738 Pre Emption Road in Geneva where Dr. Ross practices, as well as three other locations outside of Monroe County to eliminate the difficulty of travelling to ABVI’s main campus in Rochester.
“Vision Rehabilitation services are most effective when provided in an individual’s home or work place to address meaningful goals in the natural environment,” White said.
Both of the long-standing partnerships began in 1994.
The partnership with Dr. Ross began at an ophthalmology conference that year, when Ross spoke with a representative from ABVI about providing low vision services in the offices of the Eye Care Associates of the Finger Lakes where he was then practicing. The first appointment took place there on December 14. Dr. Ross, Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology with the University of Rochester’s Flaum Eye Institute, now practices at the Flaum Eye Institute’s Finger Lakes Center.
The partnership with the Eye Care Center began when Dr. Gwen Sterns, ABVI’s Medical Director, reached out to Dr. Karl Marchenese to explore the possibility that ABVI could provide low vision evaluations at the Eye Care Center office. An agreement was made that allowed staff from ABVI’s Low Vision Center to use an exam room in the Eye Care Center office to see patients from the area that have significant visual impairments.
The first appointment at the Eye Care Center occurred on September 30, 1994. Each month since then, Dr. Paul Caito, Dr. Elizabeth Harvey, and Dr. Katherine White have traveled to the Eye Care Center to provide low vision evaluations. The partnership has helped almost 1,000 people who have a significant visual impairment.
“We appreciate ABVI’s ability to provide vision rehabilitation services in our community,” Dr. Sungjun Hwang and Dr. Heidi Piper, the principal partners of The Eye Care Center said.