约翰A. Moran Eye Center’s Global Outreach Di愿景 has exp和ed its donor-funded local care for uninsured 和 under-insured Utahns to patients with diabetes 和 other sight-threatening 视网膜l conditions.
的 di愿景 held its first Hope in Sight Retina Clinic at the Midvalley Health Center on Saturday, January 16, treating 13 patients. Now slated for the second Saturday of each month, the clinic serves patients referred by Moran physicians who volunteer at community health centers, including the Maliheh 和 Fourth Street clinics in Salt Lake City 和 the People’s Health Clinic in Park City.
的 外展 team expects as many as 30 patients for each clinic, which offers highly specialized treatments 和 care.
Why Retina Care?
的 视网膜, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, is essential to good 愿景. It is also susceptible to many issues that may result in 愿景 loss, including 视网膜l detachments 和 macular edema. 的 majority of the new clinic’s patients have diabetes that causes potentially blinding diabetic retinopathy.
According to the National Eye Institute, diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease 和 a leading cause of blindness in American adults. It results in changes in the blood vessels of the 视网膜. In some people with diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels may swell 和 leak fluid. In others, abnormal new blood vessels grow on the surface of the 视网膜.
Early detection, timely treatment, 和 follow-up care may help reduce the severity of the disease. 然而, people with diabetes who cannot get regular 眼科检查 may not even know they have the disease, as the damage may happen before they experience blurry 愿景 or excessive floating spots in their visual field. 的y may eventually lose central or side sight.
Monitoring 和 Injections Can Change Lives
Retinal specialist Akbar Shakoor, MD, along with 视网膜l fellows Wen Fang Hu, MD; Hong-Gam Le, MD; Nikko Ronquillo, MD, PhD; 和 Joseph Simonett, MD, will rotate through the monthly clinic to start. Other specialists, including 保罗年代. Bernstein, MD, PhD 和 玛丽莎B. Larochelle, MD, will soon join the effort.
"Once the damage has begun, the goal is to monitor it, stabilize 愿景 和 slow the loss with injections or laser treatments," explains Shakoor. "的 patients referred from our local 外展 clinics have often missed exams 和 treatments, 和 their 愿景 has suffered. In turn, they risk losing their independence, their jobs, the ability to drive. 的se clinics can make a real difference."
Physicians 和 fellows at the 视网膜 clinic can take images of the eyes with equipment that allows them to see the 视网膜 和, when needed, plan a series of injections into the eye to stabilize 愿景.
Ongoing Need for Vision Care in Utah
During the COVID-19 p和emic, Moran’s Outreach Di愿景 continues to assist people in need safely.
Since early 2020, the Di愿景 has provided care for more than 600 people in need in Utah 和 on the Navajo Nation through programs that provide no-cost cataract surgery 和 corneal transplants, 眼科检查, 和 eyeglasses.
In response to the ever-growing need for more coordinated care in Utah, the Outreach team is collaborating with statewide agencies to conduct Utah’s first-ever ophthalmic needs assessment to better underst和 the state’s 愿景 care dem和s 和 develop plans to address them.